The Writing Desk
by Andromeda-To-The-Demitria
Summary: One writing desk, two different worlds. That's how Piper and Jason live, Piper in present day 2013 and Jason in 1939, just before World War II. When Piper buys the beloved desk at an auction, she doesn't expect to find a hidden letter in a crack. And she certainly doesn't expect another letter back when she responds. Through letters to each other, they find love and more...
1. The Fateful Auction

**August 2013**

"Sold! To Jake Mason for fourteen-hundred dollars!"

Annabeth snorted. "That dresser wasn't even near that value, stupid man. It was worth maybe 700. Maybe."

Piper looked around to the other auctions going on at the moment, searching for anything that might go with the design of the house that she and Annabeth were creating. Annabeth was an aspiring architect, and Piper a learning home designer. Problem was, in the small city of New Rome there wasn't much of a market for new houses. So for now, they were fixing up the old until they had enough money to start from scratch.

The noise of the auction was starting to get to Piper's head, and she just wanted to go home. Looking at the pizza booth situated near another auction site, she realized that she was hungry too. "Annabeth? Can I go get something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'll be over at Auction 4 to see if I can't get that wood floor for a good price. Call either me or Percy if you need us or find something good," Annabeth said, already walking over to the other auction spot.

Piper smiled in victory and pulled out her wallet as she walked to her destination. The smell of the pizza filled the hot summer afternoon air as she got closer and her stomach growled. Auctioneers were calling out in that annoying fast voice of theirs, and Piper absentmindedly wondered if she'd be able to do that if she wanted.

She approached the pizza booth and spoke to the server, who she recognized from school as Will Solace. He had sun-kissed blonde hair and light blue eyes, and was considered one of the best looking guys in school. His family owned one of the biggest pizzerias in New Rome and was especially famous for using solar power as their only energy source, hence the panels on top of the booth. "Hey, can I have a slice of cheese pizza?"

"I don't know, can you?" Will responded back jokingly as he slid a piece onto a white paper plate. "Two dollars will be your total, unless you'd like a piece of this pepperoni pizza for half price…"

Piper smiled apologetically and handed him the money. "Sorry, I'm vegetarian. Sounds good though," she said, picking up her plate.

Will shrugged. "No biggie. See you around?"

"Eww! Are you seriously talking to Dumpster Queen, Will?"

Piper looked over to the hated voice who seemed to make sure to ruin her life. Drew Tanaka, the Queen Bee of the high school. Her family owned a modeling company back in Asia, which was obvious from the expensive name brands she proudly flashed everyday. For some reason that was unknown, Drew was set on making Piper's life hell.

"Hello, Drew," Piper said coolly, trying to keep her aura indifferent.

Drew narrowed her brown eyes. "Wow, what a loser. Hon, why don't you trade those ugly shorts in for something that covers those hideous legs?"

Piper subconsciously looked down at her shorts, which were just normal jean shorts with a few rips here and there. "Come on, Drew. Can't you just leave her alone for a day or so?" Will pleaded.

"It's fine. I don't need you to fight my battles. Besides, Drew's just jealous," Piper snapped, walking away from the booth.

Behind her, she could hear Drew laugh incredulously. "Me, Drew Tanaka, jealous of her? Did you hear that, Will? She just needs to go back to the plantation and do a rain dance or something. Then maybe we'll get out of this drought!"

Piper rolled her eyes and continued walking. Drew wouldn't be talking like that if she knew who her father was. But Piper couldn't, and wouldn't, play that card. She doubted that Tristan McLean even remembered that he had a daughter. Piper had been under Annabeth and Percy's custody so long that she basically called them her real parents.

That didn't stop the kids from school from making fun of her Native American heritage. Piper didn't see it as a big deal. They lived in the Midwest, so they were the foreigners, not her. Her ancestors were here first!

And because no one wanted to get on Drew's bad side and become an outcast, Piper had no friends. Well, no outright let's-go-hang-out-in-public-friends. Lacy and Mitchell were nice to her when Drew's influence wasn't around, and that was about all. Piper had learned to be friends with Annabeth's friends, but they were older. She had no one her age to talk to and hang out with. So that meant no boyfriends or any love romance interests.

Pushing the sour thoughts from her mind, Piper looked up at the auction she had wondered to. Auction 2, which sold complementary antique furniture. Up front was an old oak trunk, refurbished and shining. A group of people were furiously bidding on it.

"150!"

"200!"

"255 and let that be the end of it!"

It went on like this for a few moments and Piper watched in interest until the price was up to six-hundred. "650 and that's the highest I'll go!" the larger woman hollered.

An old man smiled in victory, the other competitors long gone as the price had risen. "Then 700 dollars it is!"

The woman said nothing and instead walked away to find another auction. The auctioneer yelled out the final price and the next item was brought to the floor as the old man went to go pay for his prize.

Upon seeing it, Piper fell in love. It was a weathered, dirty, old, mahogany peeled writing desk. It was curved and carved in careful places, but it would take a real designer to see its beauty. Nobody would want something that destroyed and ruined. It would take a lot of work to get it back to useable, but Piper was willing to do it.

She rushed to the front of the crowd, dumping her leftover pizza in a nearby garbage and pulling out her wallet. "50! I'll give 50!"

The auctioneer looked at her in surprise, like he never expected someone to bid so quickly. In truth, Piper didn't know why she wanted this desk so bad. She just felt a pull or connection to it that she couldn't explain. "Alright, any more than 50?"

"75!" a person in the crowd called.

"100!" Piper fought back. She couldn't let anyone out bid her.

Drew Tanaka emerged from the crowd, a sneer on her face. "Hon, how about 200? Nobody wants welfare money, Dumpster Queen."

Piper felt a bitter anger rise in her chest. Why did Drew think that she could take everything away from her? "300!" she told the auctioneer.

"Easy, 500." Drew said loudly.

Now she was panicking. Piper had to have this desk and she couldn't let Drew of all people keep her from it. "700, let's not get ridiculous, Drew."

"Okay then. 900!"

Piper nervously counted the money she had. Annabeth was going to kill her if she spent it all, but she felt like she didn't really have a choice. "One thousand dollars!" she yelled, feeling like a total fool.

Drew smiled, and Piper realized that she had played right into Drew's trap. "I suppose you'll just have to wait until the next government check comes out, because now you have a very overly paid desk in your possession. Oh look, it appears to look like it came from the dumpster too, just like you!" Drew said cheerfully, walking away like a model.

"Sold, for 1,000 dollars!" the auctioneer called out with a hint of pity in his voice.

Piper numbly walked over to pay for the desk, her hands shaking as she handed over the money and told them where to load it. After she had finished speaking with them, Piper just sat on the bench and blankly stared at the people passing by, thinking of how much trouble she was going to get into with Annabeth and Percy.

See, getting in trouble with Annabeth was scary. Sometimes, she had a kitchen knife in her hand, and Piper had seen that in action one time when Percy had accidentally wrecked her car into the garage. But most of the time, she gave a lecture. And it wasn't the everyday scream and yell lecture, no, it was worse. It was just the plain disappointment in her voice that made Piper feel even more guilty after she did something wrong.

Piper's phone started to vibrate in her pocket, and Piper hesitantly answered it. "Yeah?"

"We're heading out to the pickup. Are you ready?" Percy asked through the phone.

"I'm coming. Be there in a moment, I'm just outside the parking lot," Piper said, feeling the anxiety start to build as she realized that she would have to explain in less than a minute.

Not knowing whether to walk slow or fast, she forced herself to find the pickup. If she walked too slow, Annabeth would be even more upset about the wait. Piper might as well as get it over. She turned down row four and looked ahead to Percy's blue pickup, her writing desk sitting proudly in the back.

Piper almost laughed remembering when they had decided to buy that pickup. There had been two, similar in price, miles, and quality, but different in color. One had been grey, the other blue. Annabeth had wanted the grey one, but Percy wanted the blue one (Piper swore he had an obsession with the color blue). After about a week of pointless arguing, Annabeth had given up and let Percy get the blue one. Not like Annabeth would admit that she actually lost or anything though.

Piper thought about attempting to slide by and get inside the truck, but Annabeth was waiting by the back, tapping her fingers on the tailgate while Percy gave her the sympathetic _You're-going-to-get-it _look.

"I can explain," Piper tried, almost feeling the sweat drip from her forehead.

Annabeth crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "I'm waiting," she said dangerously.

Piper shifted nervously. "After I got pizza I stopped and watched the auction for a few minutes until that particular one ended. But then they brought this out and…Well, Annabeth, can't you see the beauty in it? I couldn't resist. It's an antique and I can feel like it has a history, its own story. I don't know why, I just had to have it. Like a connection or something."

"How much?" Annabeth asked, narrowing her grey eyes.

"What?"

Annabeth returned her hand to the tailgate. "Piper, how much did you buy it for?"

"One-thousand," Piper said quietly with shame in her voice.

Annabeth sighed, walked to the passenger side, got in, and shut the door. Piper decided to try Percy. "Percy, I had to prove myself. Drew led me right into her stupid trap and I was dumb not to realize it. I'm just tired of her putting me down all the time!"

Percy walked over with Piper to the driver side. "That's who you were bidding against? I was wondering what idiot drove you up so high. It's still ridiculous that you took the bait though. I'm not going to punish you, I've done plenty of stupider things before. It's Annabeth you'll have to deal with," he said, then opened the door for Piper to slide in.

Piper would've rather walked home than sit right next to Annabeth in the front of the pickup, but she didn't think that she had much of a choice. Percy closed the door and started backing out of the parking lot and driving home. After a few minutes of agonizing silence, Annabeth spoke.

"You'll get that money back. It was supposed to go towards your college fund, not wasted on an old desk. You will get a job before September, you hear?" Annabeth said, not looking away from the window.

Piper nodded. "Yes, Annabeth," she said respectfully, glad that Annabeth wasn't looking at her for once.

"How are you going to fix up that desk?" Percy asked, probably to break the tension and redirect the conversation.

"I want to return it to its original color and everything. Just like it was when it was brand-new," Piper answered with surprising enthusiasm. She almost sounded like Annabeth when she talked about becoming an actual architect.

They pulled into their driveway in a small house on the edge of town. It was a white, one story, cottage-like house that had been one of the first that Annabeth had ever fixed up. The yard was well kept and a trail of little yard lanterns lit the way up the sidewalk. It wasn't much, but it was home to Piper. Besides, Annabeth and Percy couldn't afford to have much more, with Percy's job as the high school swimming coach the only reliable source of income. Annabeth could only get a job when she was needed, and there wasn't always a constant demand for an architect.

Annabeth was the first to jump out, and soon Piper and Percy followed. "Just put this flooring in the garden shed and I'll bring it over to the house I'm working on tomorrow morning. Piper, where do you want your desk?"

"My room," Piper responded immediately. "It should fit beside my bed in front of the window. I'll help load it into there," she offered.

Annabeth waved her off. "No, Percy and I can get it. Just go get the spot ready for it," she dismissed.

Piper nodded, put a few pieces of the flooring into the shed, and walked into the house. Piper reached around the corner and flipped the lights on, realizing that Percy had forgotten to turn off the T.V. The living room was clean, save for a soda can and a few candy wrappers. Annabeth had spent a lot of time fixing up this house, which was evident from the carefully crafted trim and paint.

Piper walked down the short hall and stopped at the door to the right. She opened it to reveal her small, dark red room. Her unmade bed sat in the corner against the wall, and her dresser on the opposite wall. A few scattered clothes littered the floor, as well as some homework and spare pencils, and Piper made sure to clean those up before Percy and Annabeth came in with her desk.

Upon hearing noise at the front door, Piper rushed over to help get her precious desk down the hall. After several minutes of rearranging, flipping, and knocking a few things down, the desk was beautifully sitting in front of Piper's window.

"Thanks," Piper said gratefully as Annabeth closed the bedroom door, leaving Piper alone in her room.

Piper jumped to it, examining every beautiful detail about the desk. In some places, the wood was cracked and the stain long peeled away. But Piper could tell the original color was a grand mahogany. Piper pulled out every drawer and looked around at the problems in there. There was no metal pieces, the drawers slid in and slid out like normal without any help. Piper reached inside the first one to feel any warped wood, and there wasn't. She did that on the second too, and then reached into the third.

At the far back in the corner, Piper's fingers brushed against something thin, like paper. Intrigued, Piper used her phone as light to see inside. Just a corner of a piece of parchment was sticking out, so small it was hardly noticeable just by looking. Piper once again reached in their and began to pry it out.

After a few broken nails and a bunch of slivers, Piper was victorious. She pulled the worn paper out an examined it in excitement.

On the front, in beautiful, curved writing, was this: _To My Loving Equal, August 1939._

* * *

**So here is my brand new story, which I couldn't wait to publish! I am really excited for this story, I have so much planned and I hope you guys will love it as much as I do. It's not evident now, but this story will have a little different format. **

**Well, thank you for future reviews, follows, and favorites! I wouldn't be here without you!**


	2. Politics

**August 1939**

"Jason! I got something for us!" Thalia yelled, jumping off Jason's horse, Tempest, and running towards him.

Jason looked up from the useless plowing he had been doing for the past week. Rows and rows of dirt, and that was all he could see. Once upon a time, before the Great Depression, it had been a thriving cornfield, beautiful and waving in the wind. Now the wind only brought locusts and dust.

The Depression had taken everything from Jason and Thalia. Their mother, home, and crops. Sure, they were getting out of it slowly, but it was too slow. The east and west parts of the U.S. were improving, but not the Midwest. They still had the dust bowls and the terrible droughts. Most everyone had already given up and left for California and other places where promises were better.

Jason dropped the plow and met his sister in the middle. She was waving a piece of paper, her electric blue eyes shining in excitement. "I have a way to get out of this hell hole!"

"Really? What?" Jason asked, trying to grab the paper.

Thalia held it out with pride. "Well, Gwen said that Bobby is leaving for New York to live and she needed someone to help her out at the store and…I got his position! It's got a room upstairs, as you know, and Gwen said that we could live there if we wanted. The gods have finally given us the pity we've needed for the past ten years!"

"Are you serious? You're not kidding or anything, right?" Jason asked, still not able to believe that they could actually leave this place and move into the town.

"Would I joke about something like this? Of course we're leaving! Pack up, 'cause I'm leaving as soon as possible," Thalia said, already walking back up to the house.

Jason ran after her. "What about the cow? Or the chickens? Or our farming equipment? We're just going to abandon everything?"

"Don't be stupid, Jason," Thalia chided, "We'll come back and sell it all. I just want to get to town before dark," she said, opening the door and walking in.

Jason stopped at the door, lost in thought about the sudden news of moving to New Rome. Don't get him wrong, Jason hated it here now. There wasn't anything left for them. But Jason could remember the time when everything was green and life was easy, and that just made it a little harder. What if it returned to that?

He stepped inside the house, examining the layer of dust over nearly every piece of furniture. There wasn't much left in the house after their mother had died and Thalia had burned most of the furniture for heat in the winters. Thalia and Jason only used the main room any more, as they had closed off the rest to keep dust from coming in excessively after their mom died. A single bed lay on one side of the main room, and a single kitchen filled the rest. Huddled in the corner was Jason's beloved desk.

The writing desk. Jason had spent an entire summer working on that out of boredom, creating it from the spare wood left over from the house. It was just a few years old, but it already showed looks of wear and tear. He remembered fighting Thalia to leave it and not burn it with the rest of the furniture. She'd been really angry, but she'd gotten over it eventually.

"What are you doing? Get your things!" Thalia ushered, picking up a few pots and pans and wrapping them in her clothes.

Jason leaned on the wall by his desk. "Thalia, can I bring my desk with me tonight?"

Thalia stood up and stretched her back. She looked like she was in her late thirties, though she was only twenty-two. "I suppose, it's not worth arguing with you over that stupid desk again. I don't know why you're so attached to it. Get the wagon ready, then," she dismissed.

"Thanks," Jason said gratefully, almost running out the door to go get his horse.

Without even a call, Tempest was waiting by the house expectantly. Jason loved that horse almost as much as he loved his desk. Almost. With whitish-yellow streaks across his black shaded body, Tempest was an unique beauty. The townspeople loved him, and a lot of travelers offered money to buy Tempest.

Jason always turned them down though, which was why Thalia always told him to keep Tempest locked up. She said that somebody might steal him, but Jason knew Tempest was smart enough to avoid people he didn't trust. Tempest liked to be free, anyways. Jason couldn't keep him contained if he wanted to.

He remembered the awful days when the dust bowls were so bad that they had to keep the animals inside the house with them, and Tempest almost always had a fit. As if they weren't miserable enough as it was at the time.

"Come here, boy," Jason called, leading Tempest to the leaning shed. "We're going to hook you up to the wagon."

Jason pulled the wooden wagon out of the shed while Tempest watched from the side. "You _are_ welcome to help any time now," Jason grumbled. It was moments like this when Jason really wished that they had a car like everyone in the east.

Tempest whinnied, but made no motive to move. Jason plopped the wagon tongues on the ground. "Alright, get yourself over here," Jason instructed, but led Tempest over to the wagon anyway.

He gently backed Tempest in between the two tongues, and hooked the wagon up to the harness. He then adjusted all the other straps, and soon they were on their way to the front of the house, where Thalia had already situated a pile of things to bring to town.

"Jason, help me with your stupid desk if you're done!" Thalia yelled from the inside of the house.

"I'm coming!" Jason snapped back. It wasn't like he was just going to stand around and let Thalia do all the work.

Through a lot of trial and error, they finally managed to squeeze the desk out of the door and push it into the wagon along with all their other belongings. Jason pulled himself up into the wagon and took the reins as Thalia got on the other side.

Tempest took off, and Jason couldn't help but get a last glance at the home that had been theirs for so long.

The house, small and wooden against the wide, dusty prairie that was Jason's only memory of a home. Thalia had helped build it when she was younger, and she said that Father had built most of it before leaving them again.

And all the land that Jason had worked over the years, desperate and tired, trying to make it yield something, just _something _to get them through the winter. Pleading to the sky to make the world return back to the beautiful, wide open wilderness that it had once been. But it was the pure effort and life that had been put into it, making Jason almost part of the land and prairie sky itself.

"You okay, Jase?" Thalia asked with concern in her voice.

Jason returned his gaze to the well worn dirt road in front of them. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said hoarsely.

* * *

"Did you hear about the Nazi-Soviet Pact? Crazy!" Frank Zhang, the town's main hunter said as Jason walked up the stairs.

They were moved into the grocery building now, with much help from the townspeople. Now, everyone was downstairs talking about politics, Thalia in the heat of it. She always had been a politician, arguing with any person who dared to oppose her opinion. Being her brother, Jason grew tired of it.

"Yeah, FDR needs to get a move on it and get rid of Hitler already! Stay 'neutral'? People these days!" Thalia ranted, leaning back in her chair.

"So I take it that you're not voting him in for a third term, Thalia?"

Thalia snorted. "Don't be stupid, Dakota. We need someone who halfway knows what he's doing to get us through this war."

"You think that we'll get a war out of this?" Dakota questioned, apparently taking a swig of his drink.

Jason opened the door that led into the upstairs floor that would be his home until he found his own. Nothing was arranged, not like they had brought much to this place anyway though. The bare minimum of furniture that had been left was there; kitchen appliances, a chair, and some bed springs in the rooms.

He was happy that the small upstairs had two bedrooms, even if his was a tiny corner attic room. It had enough space for his bed and desk, and really, that's all he needed.

Jason walked into his room and sat on his unmade bed, the sheets just thrown on the top. He dug through his bag of clothes and found a dirty ragged shirt that wouldn't be much good in the future, and brought it over to his desk. Jason began to lovingly wipe off the accumulated dirt from the ride to town off his desk, thinking about everything.

The looming war, mostly. He knew that it could be a major part in helping America to escape the Depression once and for all, but it also scared him. Jason had just turned eighteen last month, meaning he was eligible to go into the army. He was _expected_ to serve. The United States was not going to stay out of this impending war for long, they were bound to join at some point.

Don't get Jason wrong, he wasn't scared to fight. He had gotten in plenty of fights at school, and he wasn't afraid to stand up for what was right. Jason just didn't like what he might come back to after the war, assuming he survived.

"Need any help there?"

Jason slightly jumped at the sudden interruption. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't realized that someone was approaching. "Oh, uh, no. Thanks, though," he answered, looking up to the owner of the voice.

It was Reyna, one of the two of Jason's best friends. She had dark hair braided down the back, and eyes that appeared to be an almost obsidian color. She wore her usual skirt and purple blouse that still somehow made her seem superior to everyone else.

"Okay. Leo and I were just wondering," she said, looking over her shoulder.

Jason looked around the corner and saw his other best friend, Leo, leaning happily against the doorframe behind Reyna. If Jason had to describe him, he'd say that Leo looked like a Latino elf, with his boyish face and sharp features.

"It's gonna be so awesome now that you live in town with us! I can kick it at your place now and annoy you every second of the day!" Leo exclaimed, pushing himself past Reyna.

Reyna crossed her arms. "Yeah, until Thalia throws you out the window, Valdez."

"You'd be waiting down at the ground to catch me, dearie!"

"Uh, no thanks."

Leo took Reyna's hand dramatically. "Rey, you love me and you know it," he said, enveloping her in his arms.

"Don't call me-" Reyna started, but was cut off by a kiss.

Jason decided it was time to break it up, so he threw his dusty cloth at them. "Guys, seriously! If you're going to flirt and make out, do it where I _can't _see you!"

Not that Jason didn't approve of them going out, it was just awkward to be the one left out. He could only imagine how it was for Leo when once upon a time Jason and Reyna had had a 'thing'. Well now Jason was the loner, and the constant flirting between the two of them only sent a pang through his chest.

Leo laughed and pushed Reyna out the door. "It's getting late anyways and I should be walking Reyna home. See you!" he said, walking to the door that led to the staircase.

Jason waved a hand. "Yeah, see you around," he said, picking up his cloth and throwing it in the corner of his room.

As soon as he heard the door latch shut, Jason sat at his desk, admiring the now shiny surface. He didn't know what to do with the rest of his night. He supposed he could go downstairs and listen to the politics, but from the sounds of it they were now on the subject of women's rights, a topic in which Thalia was very vicious about and made Jason change his mind.

He decided to arrange his desk. He placed the pens, pencils, and ink in their proper spots, and straightened out the paper. He hooked the stamps on a nail that was slightly sticking out, and rearranged his few books in alphabetical order.

After a few minutes of that, Jason had run out of things to do. He certainly didn't want to think of everything in the current world. In fact, he just wanted to put it behind him.

Normally, Jason got over his feelings by talking to someone. But seeing as most of his problems _were_ the people closest to him, that option was out.

If only he had a girl that he loved to talk to, that would be nice. Just to spill every thought, every feeling, and know that no matter what, she still loved you.

Looking at the items on his desk, Jason got a crazy idea. "I could just write to her and pretend she's listening," Jason mumbled under his breath, hoping that no one was upstairs.

The idea was odd, stupid even, but Jason felt compelled to do it for some reason. So he pulled out the a piece of paper, and wrote it all down.

_I feel so lost in this world, my love. I wish you were here, so I could hold you, look into your eyes and tell you everything. But the current circumstances have made that impossible, so I guess I'll have to settle for a letter to you instead. _

_I don't know you yet, but I'm ecstatic for the day we meet. Please make it be soon, you can't possibly understand how left out I feel when I watch my two best friends be so deeply in love. I remember the days when I was with her, Reyna, and my heart tears just a little bit. But it would be wrong of me to be unhappy of her relationship with my other best friend, Leo. _

_The nearing war of the nations has got talk all over town thriving. My sister, Thalia, is an avid person in politics. I can't deny that I hope she someday gets into the White House. You'd like her, I know._

_We've recently moved from the wide open prairie to the small town of New Rome, but I'm not completely happy about it. I know it's for the best, but I'm going to miss it a lot. Thalia has a job here at the grocery, and we have a small home at the top floor, so it's alright. The Depression wasn't going to let me farm anymore, so I guess we needed this move more than I want to admit. _

_I want to share with you that I don't know if I'm ready to go into the service when it comes time to fight. I'm eighteen, but I don't feel that age when I think about it. I feel like a frightened baby, and it shames me. I should be proud, and I am, but I'm not ready. Maybe if America doesn't join for a few years, then I will be. _

_So, my love, I wait for your appearance. I will always be here for you, even if I have to wait thousands of years. I would prefer you be here soon, but the fates will have their way, won't they? Do I sound stupid?_

_Forever yours, _

_Jason Grace_

With that, Jason folded the paper, trying to think of the proper place to hide it while also debating whether or not to label the front.

He heard Thalia's footsteps coming up the stairs, so he hurriedly scribbled a label on the front and threw it between the third drawer and the desk, so that it was lightly sticking in the crack.

Hopefully, no one would find it.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the very original plot, which I'm not following much anyway. **

**Thank you for all the feedback on the first chapter! I appreciate your responses and I even laughed a few times as I read them, so thanks for that too!**


	3. Responses

**August 2013**

Piper rolled over in her bed the next morning. She assessed her plans for the day, and realized that today was her last day before the first day of school, which was unfortunately tomorrow.

She should be happy. Piper was a freaking senior this year! It was supposed to be the best year of high school, the most memorable and fun. But when her social status was of zero, it sure didn't feel that way.

Annabeth would want to spend the day helping Piper organize and plan for the rest of the year and for college, but Piper really didn't feel like it. It would just involve more silent scolding about Piper's stupidity in buying the desk.

The desk, Piper remembered with a warm smile.

Then, she freaked out.

"Oh my god, the letter!" Piper frantically whispered, reaching under her pillow to the spot where she safely hid it. She felt the crumbly yellowed paper in her fingertips, and she delicately pulled it out again.

Last night, Piper had read and reread the letter so many times that it wasn't even funny. She was mesmerized in a way. Piper wasn't alone in feeling lost. There was someone else too that was just as lonely as Piper was, who wanted love too.

Granted, that person was now about ninety-two years old, which just made things a little weird. This guy could still be alive. Well, maybe not. He did say something about going to war. Piper needed to do some investigating at the library and courthouse. Annabeth would be ecstatic.

Only, Piper wasn't sure she had enough information to find him. New Rome was full of Graces. It would take forever to find the right one. She needed more specifications to narrow it down so she didn't have to spend days looking through countless profiles.

She'd have to figure out that obstacle later. For now, she had to get up before Annabeth came in and got her, because that never ended well.

Piper stepped out of her bed and onto the cold wooden floor. She could feel the draft coming from the air conditioner, which was already on due to the immense morning heat. Minus the dust storms, Piper could totally relate to the weather conditions. Really hot and no rain, a drought.

As she left her room and headed down the hall, she could smell breakfast as it wavered in the air. Piper entered the chrome decorated kitchen to see Annabeth at the oven, cooking pancakes and sausage.

"Oh, that smells so _good_," Piper breathed, pulling out the oak chair next to Percy.

Annabeth smiled and brought a platter to the middle of the table. "And that's how I know we raised you right," she said, handing Piper and Percy plates and silverware.

On the platter sat a stack of blue pancakes and juicy sausage. Everything eaten at the Jackson house that could be turned blue was blue. Piper had never really understood that tradition, but it was in her list of goals to understand.

"'Course she was raised right. She's ours," Percy said with a hint of pride in his voice, reaching for the syrup and butter.

Piper blushed and looked down to her blue pancakes, warmth surrounding her heart. Something about being claimed as Percy and Annabeth's just made everything better. Like she actually belonged here and nothing was out of place. Piper liked that feeling a lot. It helped with the bullying at school tremendously, just to know Piper mattered to someone.

"Thanks, guys," Piper said, thinking that she couldn't say it enough. Percy passed her the butter and syrup and she used them and gave them to Annabeth.

Annabeth finished and started to cut into her own blue pancake. "Piper, Sally was wondering if you'd go over to her house and help paint the spare bedroom? Paul's busy at the school since the teachers had to start early," Annabeth asked, but more like told Piper what her plans were for today.

"Okay, I'll go over there as soon as I'm done eating breakfast," Piper confirmed, picking up a sausage and downing it within two bites.

"Jeez, Piper. Slow down there, I'm sure my mother can wait a few more minutes!" Percy joked, pushing his plate towards Annabeth.

Annabeth immediately gave him a dirty look. She put down her fork and crossed her arms. "Percy, do you have a pair of working legs?"

Percy moved his chair out and picked up his plate, heading for the sink. "Alright, alright. Just thought I'd try," he mumbled. He put the plate in the sink and kissed an indignant Annabeth on the cheek.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked curiously, placing her own plate in the sink on top of Percy's.

Percy grabbed his keys. "I have to go to the school to plan and get ready for school tomorrow. Apparently even P.E. teachers have to go," he explained.

Piper immediately felt her stomach drop as she remembered for the second time this morning that tomorrow was the first day of school. She nodded calmly, not wanting any more attention about her nervousness about school. It wasn't fun being labeled as the loser kid who had no friends.

"Oh. I see," she answered numbly, "See you," she said, walking down the hall and into her room to change her clothes.

Once she got there and shut her door, she realized how stupid of a move that was. Annabeth wasn't oblivious at all. She would notice right away how nervous Piper was about going to school. Annabeth was already concerned about her, and she knew how much Piper hated school. Not just because Piper had problems with dyslexia, but because her classmates tended to be prejudiced against her for fear of Drew's shaming.

Piper sighed and reached into her drawer, searching for a pair of old jeans and a shirt. She settled on a pair of light jeans with a hole in one knee and the red shirt with gray paint splatters already on it from helping Annabeth paint the kitchen.

She tied her hair up into a tight ponytail using her mirror, but most of it fell out due to the choppy cutting that Piper preferred to have. Piper put her phone and wallet in her back pocket and looked back to her small room.

Piper eyed the beautiful letter for a moment before leaving her room. Should she take it?

She decided to take it. Sally would like to read it, she enjoyed things like this. Plus, she might have some interesting stories to share with Piper about the letter that she was reminded of.

Piper softly closed her door and walked down the hall, her flip flops making noise against the wooden floor. Annabeth looked up from the book she had been studying about new trends in architecture at the kitchen table.

"Are you leaving for Sally's?" she asked, placing a bookmark in her book and standing up.

Piper nodded. "Yes. Did Percy happen to check my tire this morning before he left?" Piper asked. The front driver tire on her car had a tendency to leak air extremely fast, but Piper hadn't taken it in to get it fixed yet.

"He did, and he already filled it up," Annabeth responded, clasping her hands.

"Okay, thanks," Piper said, messing with her keys. She pursed her lips and walked to the door. Right as she put her hand on the handle, Annabeth called out to her.

"Piper?"

Piper turned around at a small angle, knowing what was coming. "Yeah?"

Annabeth stepped forward, her eyes full of concern. "Are you alright? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Piper reassured, feeling the bitterness of the lie on the tip of her tongue, the guilt settling on her chest. Before Annabeth could say anything else, Piper opened the door and slid out on to the porch, hurrying down the stairs.

Percy must have already gotten Piper's car out of the garage, as it was sitting in the driveway. Its main color was green, but people at school tended to 'accidentally' hit her all the time, so there was a variety of different colors on it now. Drew had even dared to make a comment once about Piper's eyes exploding onto her car.

It had only resulted in a trip to the principal's office, a call to Percy, and two weeks of detention. Turns out, punching the most richest girl in school is not a good idea.

Piper slightly smiled at the memory, remembering how good it had felt to stand up for herself like that. She sat in her car and put her key in the ignition, feeling the rumble as the engine started.

She put it into drive and cruised down the streets, passing the school as she neared Sally's house. The teacher's cars were all there, some teacher's just now pulling in even. At least Percy was there on time, and it was normal for him to be late. But it's not like it really mattered, he was just the swimming instructor and his free period was first period.

Sally's light blue house came into view, and Piper parked on the side of her lawn in front of the house. Paint buckets and brushes were already laid out on the porch, and Sally was out trimming her rose bushes.

She smiled and put down her scissors as Piper got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk. "Piper!" she exclaimed, pulling Piper in for a hug.

"Hey, Sally," Piper greeted back, taking in the smell of Sally. Sally always smelled like honey and sweet things, and to Piper, that was the greatest smell in the world.

Sally looked her over warmly. "Piper, you are so beautiful," she said, pushing a loose piece of Piper's hair behind her ear, "And don't let anyone tell you anything otherwise, okay?"

"Oh, Sally. You exaggerate," Piper replied, trying not to blush. She moved over to the drying paintbrushes and lifted one up. "So, what are we painting?"

Sally rolled her eyes and shook a paintbrush at her. "Smooth way of words there, changing the subject, Missy!" she scolded in a joking voice. "But let's go on into the house, try not to drip on the carpet too much," she instructed.

Piper laughed and followed Sally into the house, paying strict attention to where her paintbrush was dripping as Sally lead her to the spare bedroom, which used to be Percy's.

The walls were sparsely painted with the off-white color that Sally had chosen to go over the horrid yellow color it had once been. Plastic covered the carpeted floor, and a few containers of paint were scattered across the room along with various brushes and rollers.

"Percy is mad at me because I am just now repainting this room," Sally said in an amused tone. "He _hated_ this color!"

They painted for a few hours until Sally said they were done for the day and insisted that Piper stay for a snack of cookies and lemonade to ward off the hot weather.

Sally sat down across from Piper at the patio table and poured her a cup of the cool lemonade. "So, anything interesting happen lately?" she asked.

"Yes, actually," Piper said, perking up. She pulled the folded letter out of her pocket and smoothed it out on the table. "I'm sure Annabeth has already told you about the desk I bought last night, right?"

"Of course I heard. Annabeth was not happy about that at all," Sally agreed, taking a bite of her cookie. "What's this?" she asked.

Piper pointed to the label on the other side. "Sally, I found this hidden between the wood inside one of the drawer slots. It's a love letter from some guy in the late 1930's."

"Oh my!" Sally exclaimed in interest. "Can I read it?" she questioned, picking it delicately off the tabletop.

"Go ahead," Piper said, picking another blue cookie from the platter.

Sally studied the letter for a few minutes, and dreamily laid it on the table when she finished. "That is so beautifully written! The poor man, Jason, sounds like he is in such a depressing mood, you know? He just wants someone to love and hold, but nothing's working out, it's a tragic letter, really. I wonder if he ever did find someone?"

Piper shrugged. "I don't know. I don't want to spend forever looking up names in the courthouse," Piper said sadly, "I just wish there was an easier way to get more information from him," Piper said with a sigh.

"I remember when I used to write letters to Percy's father when he was at sea, and he'd respond with the most romantic letters," Sally said lovingly, absently picking apart her blue cookie, "Before he went M.I.A., of course. I even remember the last letter I sent him. But I never got the letter I expected back."

Piper sat in silence for a moment, letting Sally reminisce. "So, what should I do about the letter?" she asked after a minute or so.

"Write back," Sally said simply, standing up from her chair.

"Write back?"

"There's paper by my computer desk," Sally called as she walked away to finish trimming her rose bushes.

Piper watched after her until she couldn't see her anymore. She stared at the letter, debating whether to follow Sally's advice or not. Normally, Annabeth and Sally were the top people on Piper's list of people to take instructions from. And if Sally said that it would be a good idea to write back, then it probably was.

She stood up and quickly walked into the house, rolling into the computer chair and ripping out a piece of notebook paper. Piper grasped her fingers on the nearest pen, which happened to be pink, and started to write.

_Jason,_

_I found your letter in the desk I recently bought, and I have to say, I'm intrigued by it. I feel a bit stupid writing a letter to you, but who knows what will happen? First though, I suppose I should tell you who I am. _

_My name is Piper McLean, though anymore I go by Piper Jackson because that is the last name of my adoptive parents, Percy and Annabeth. I live in New Rome and it is currently August 2013 here. I'm seventeen years old and my birthday is February 13. I don't have any friends, and I too feel alone in this world. _

_I don't think you are a baby for not being ready to serve in the military. It takes a lot of self-discipline and courage to do such a thing, and I know you have it. But that doesn't make you a loser just because you aren't ready. There is a fine line between being prepared to do something and not having the guts to do something. _

_Fate works in its ways, like you stated in your letter. I don't know whether your intentions were for me to actually find this however many years later, or if they were just to have this letter as a venting material. I'm not even really sure you'll ever read this letter, so whatever. _

_Anyways, enough of my pointless rambling. Let's just see if this works before I pour my heart and soul onto a dumb piece of paper. It would be mortifying if I did and someone from my school found it. I would be made fun of even more than I already am. _

_Forever is a Long Time and I Don't Even Know You,_

_Piper Jackson_

* * *

**Hello! Long time, no see, right? It might be like that for a while...just found out I was moving. So. Much. Stress!**

**So, if you haven't figured it out already, this story isn't historically accurate because my school sucks and they don't offer extra classes. We barely get the required ones done!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, follows, and everything! Thank you so much!**


	4. Leo Doesn't Lie

**August 1939**

"Jason, I'm going downstairs now. Gwen's going to show me all what to do," Thalia called from the kitchen.

Jason rolled over in his bed, not extremely happy with the thought of facing the day. He could already hear the sounds of townspeople chattering and honking their horns at each other in joy like they had not a care in the world. They wanted summer to last longer.

He just wanted moisture. And if that meant waiting until winter came with the biggest blizzard that the world had ever saw, then so be it. Jason would be expectantly waiting for its arrival along with the dream girl.

"Hey, did you hear me or not?" Thalia snapped from the doorway. Her rebelliously short hair was shining in the morning sunlight coming through Jason's window. Thalia was wearing a simple print dress that Jason had never saw her in before, so he assumed that it was part of the dress code.

"Of course I heard you," Jason quickly answered, jumping out of bed and acting like he had actually been getting ready, searching through the nearest bag.

Apparently, Thalia wasn't dumb. "Then answer me next time and get your lazy a-"

"Okay, okay!" Jason interrupted, pulling out a white shirt and placing it on his bed.

Thalia sighed and left the doorway, her wedged shoes making a slight clanking noise on the wooden floor. He heard her disappear down the stairs and going to work for the first time. Voices dimly started to fill the air, and Jason decided to finally actually get ready to face the daylight.

He picked up the loose white shirt that he had gotten out and slipped it on along with some pants and a pair of boots. Jason ran a hand through his blonde hair and called it good before almost leaving the room, his hand lingering on his desk.

Then he remembered the letter that he had pathetically written the previous night. At the time, it had seemed like a good method to relieve his thoughts, write a love letter to a nonexistent person and hide it. But now, the only thoughts that filled his mind were ones of embarrassment.

In a swift movement, Jason pulled out the drawer and reached inside for the letter, fully intent to rip it up and toss it in the trash. He felt the paper inside and pulled it out, bracing his hands on either side of it.

But something was wrong. This paper had weird blue lines on it and had writing in pink ink and was definitely _not_ his handwriting.

"What in the-"

Laughing filled the air. A familiar joyful laugh along with the honking of a horn and a girl's firm screaming for something to stop, though it was evident she had humor in her voice at a very scarce part.

Jason looked down to the letter, and out the window to the curly haired driver on the street.

"Leo," Jason grumbled, ready to strangle his best friend for getting into his private things _again_. It was seriously not funny this time though, because apparently he had written back.

Jason grumpily stomped down the wooden stairs and out of the grocery store, not even paying heed to Thalia's 'Be back by supper, Jason' or anything. He had a person to scold and be angry with.

The said person was currently across the street in his old Chevy car that he had bought a few years ago and fixed up for a reasonable price. Leo had always had a gift with mechanics and things like that.

He was laying on the horn, making a racket that interrupted the whole street, while Reyna was standing by the store's door in her work apron with a broom raised threateningly in her hands.

"Stop it! I've got to get the cleaning done, I'll think about meeting you for lunch, but if you don't stop I think I'll find somewhere else to be!" Reyna yelled, looking around apologetically to the pedestrians and other drivers on the street.

Jason was pretty sure that Leo had not heard a single word that had just come out of Reyna's mouth, because he was too busy laughing and honking the horn even more. "Rey-Rey, how about you save some of that firewood you have in the back and all us Seniors can have a bonfire before school starts?"

"I can't even understand you over that damn horn!" Reyna yelled in frustration.

"Just say yes and I'll stop!"

Reyna looked around in hesitation to all the annoyed people around her, begging her to stop the ruckus. Everyone in all of New Rome knew that Reyna was the only one who could control Leo, and if she couldn't or wouldn't put a stop to it, a lot of people got angry, which made them not buy stuff from the store she worked at and made her boss mad at her for not selling anything.

She narrowed her eyes and gripped the door handle. "Fine, yes then!" she screamed, slamming the shop door and disappearing inside. Shortly after that, the horn was silenced as Leo sensed Reyna's attitude with him. So much for a bonfire.

Jason shook his head and lowly laughed as he crossed the street and stepped in front of Leo's car, his arms crossed.

"Jay-Jay!" Leo said in surprise. "You want to go drive around and throw up some dirt?"

Jason held up the weird blue lined paper. "I don't think this is funny. How many times have I told you to stay _out_ of my personal belongings? Can't I have a little privacy?"

Leo leaned forward and eyed the paper in interest. "Whoa, that's a weird piece of paper! But the last time I got into your stuff was like a week ago, when I took a pair of your socks 'cause mine had a hole in them! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"I'm talking about this! I don't find it amusing that you got into my desk and read my personal letter and decided to write back! And where did you even find pink ink? I've never even heard of such a thing!"

"Cool! I want some!" Leo said in excitement, reaching out to take the letter from Jason's hand. Jason pulled back and held fast to the letter, starting to doubt that Leo had read his original letter after all.

Jason backed away slightly. "So, you didn't read my letter after all?"

"What letter? Can I read it?" Leo asked, still trying to reach for the letter in a whiny way. He accidentally hit the horn, and Leo's head snapped towards the store door as if he was expecting Reyna to emerge and beat him over the head with the broomstick. She didn't come out though.

"Nothing, Leo. Swear that you didn't write this?" Jason asked, nervously rubbing the crinkly edges of the new letter.

Leo reached out again lazily. "I promise! I wouldn't lie to you anyway!" he said exasperatedly, suddenly lunging forward to get Jason off guard.

It didn't work, but instead Leo accidentally hit the gas pedal in the process, slamming the front of the car right into Jason, which sent him tumbling onto the top of Leo's car.

Jason rolled off the car, groaning from the pain and very aware that a lot of people were staring at him.

Leo jumped out of his car and knelt on the ground beside him. "If anyone asks, my car is possessed by a woman named Helen. She has baggy eyes and wears an awful orange Sunday dress!" Leo said quickly, then he noticed Jason's annoyed look at his lack of concern. "Oh, and by the way, are you alright?" he added quickly.

"Oh, yeah. Just got hit by a car, that's all," Jason grumbled, pushing himself up from the ground.

The store door slammed, and both Jason and Leo knew at that moment that Reyna had been watching them from inside the store. "Leo Valdez! I'm going to take that car and push it off a cliff!" she screamed, suddenly approaching them.

Leo gulped and raised a finger. "Number one, it was Helen's fault. And number two, good luck finding a cliff around here!" Leo said, and as soon as he got the last syllable out of his mouth took off running with his head back laughing down the street, totally abandoning his car.

"Leo!" Reyna called after him angrily, chucking her broom finally and narrowly missing his head by an inch.

"Miss me, miss me, now you gotta kiss me!" Leo sang out, still in dead run.

Reyna simply put her hands on her hips and turned to Jason. "Sorry about that, I gave him some of the old candy that had long since expired this morning. Big mistake," Reyna explained, walking back towards the door. "Do you want to come in here and hang out for a while?"

Jason shrugged, feeling the bruises begin to form on his upper legs. "Okay, sure," he agreed, following her in the door and into the brightly lit shop.

It was one of those everything stores, where it didn't really have a specific category to fit into, so it just sold whatever worked. One shelf was filled with candy, while the one next to it sold a variety of tools. The next shelf over contained clothes and different types of cloth and even one sewing machine. Lining the wall behind the cash register was the more expensive items, like car parts, radios, and record players. The far back of the store had lumber for building things or for just messing around with at a bonfire, like Leo had suggested.

Reyna slid behind her counter and sat on her stool. "So, anything new?" she asked, pulling out the cash register and counting her money.

Jason fingered the edges of the letter, and realized that he hadn't yet read it. He wanted to tell Reyna about the letter, but he wasn't sure that he was ready. Besides, he wanted to read the letter without anyone around. It _was_ meant for his eyes only, right?

"Uh, nothing much since last night," Jason smoothly lied, hoping Reyna wouldn't catch anything. "But I should probably get back home, Thalia more than likely wants me to help her unpack and clean," Jason added.

She raised an eyebrow, but apparently decided against pushing Jason. "Okay, I suppose. I guess I should probably start cleaning and writing down stock before Leo gets back. He wants to take me to lunch this afternoon and I'm pretty sure there is no escaping that without another scene," she said, sighing.

Jason laughed and pushed open the glass door. "Have fun!"

Reyna reached for her broom, but apparently remembered that it was currently in the middle of the street. She shook her head and followed Jason out the door. "He's just lucky I love him," she stated, running out into the street.

"See you," Jason said, but he didn't think Reyna heard him as Leo came out of nowhere and grabbed her around the waist and kissed her in the middle of the street.

His happy attitude wavered a little, and Jason jogged across the street with his letter still in hand. At least he still had something to look forward to. Jason could feel the excitement churning in his chest and he tried to imagine what the letter contained.

The grocery store door dinged as Jason walked in, and Thalia met him by the staircase. "Jason, why are you back so soon?" Thalia questioned in an almost scolding tone.

"I've just come to go organize my room, I figured you'd want that done." Jason protested, trying to inch past Thalia and onto the bottom step.

Thalia scowled. "Jason, you're eighteen. You can't just keep avoiding everything like this. Go get Leo and Reyna and go to a movie tonight or something. Have fun! Don't be boring and do everything how it should be done," she chided, starting to dust off the counters.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jason responded, clutching the letter a little tighter.

Thalia put the black duster down and crossed her arms. "Tell you what. Word has it that Travis and Katie Stoll from down the street adopted a Lakota girl that was renamed Percilla and she'd supposed to get here next morning. Why don't you take her out tomorrow night and show her around? Every new girl needs a friend, right?"

Jason put his foot up on the step, knowing that he wasn't going to get out of showing this Percilla around. "Okay, fine," he agreed, then darted up the stairs as fast as humanly possible and seated himself in the desk in anxiety.

He carefully unfolded the forlorn paper, his heart rapidly picking up its pace. The words were foreign, almost from a different world as his mind read them. They swirled in his head like a hurricane, and Jason knew that he had just read something that was totally out of Jason's reach.

She was a seventeen old girl named Piper. From 2013. And she was lost too.

Jason wasn't alone.

* * *

_My dearest Piper,_

_I'm just as surprised, I guess you could say, at the odd occurrences that have sent your letter to me as mine did to you. I'm not going to lie, I didn't believe it at first either. In fact, I accused Leo, my best friend, of taking my original letter and sending this fake one back to me!_

_Needless to say, the bruises on my legs from his hitting me with his car still hurt. _

_I want to know all about your life in the future, if all this is real. What are those weird lines on your paper that are colored blue? Where did you get the pink ink from? _

_I can't possibly imagine why a girl like you would be bullied, from what I can tell. Why do they do such things to you? And why do you go by Piper Jackson instead of your real name? It is very uncommon for something like that to happen her in 1039. _

_I guess enough of my questions and on to my daily life. After getting hit with the car by Leo, I got to witness his girlfriend and my best friend, Reyna, throw a broomstick at him from across the street. Their relationship is so inspiring and so hilarious, but I can't feel but a little jealously. I mean, Reyna and I could have had something at one point, but I mistakenly made my point that she was only a friend. I suppose as long as they are happy, I am. And Leo was probably tired of feeling like a third wheel._

_And on top of that, Thalia is making me show some random girl that I have never even met tomorrow. _

_Well, that's it for now. _

_Please Respond My Dear Piper,_

_Jason_

* * *

**Hey, what's up? If it means anything, I wrote this chapter in less than an hour just for you guys because I figured that I owed it to you for_ fifty-three_ freaking reviews already! **

**So, thank you so much for all your patience and support, it means so much especially with my hectic life! **


	5. Seniority Doesn't Rule

HONK-HONK!

"Hey, get out of the way!"

Piper swerved to avoid the obnoxious jockeys driving towards the parking lot on their first day of school. It had been a game ever since sophomore year for them to see how many people they could almost scare into a wreck.

Piper seriously hated that game.

"God damn it!" she muttered under her breath as she searched for a parking space. As usual, there was no such thing as an empty space, so Piper drove her car towards the street to parallel park in front of the park.

She pulled over, parked, and gathered her things. Before stepping out of the car, Piper stared in dread at the giant three-story brick building called New Rome High School, or NRHS.

Students were already flooding into the school even though it was early. Piper didn't know everyone, the school was simply just too populated for that, but she could pick out the freshmen just from the looks on their faces.

She understood. At first, New Rome High could be the scariest thing on Earth. There were so many classrooms, teachers, students, and everything was just so much bigger than all the small middle schools they had come from. New locker combinations, new friends, new activities, new life. It was like a death sentence.

Piper sighed and decided to finally get out and walk towards the building. She stayed off the sidewalk and instead walked straight on the grass. Piper got a few dirty looks from the staff as they walked by, but Piper didn't care.

What the hell? Piper was a senior and she would do as she pleased.

The big glass doors were propped open for convenience, so Piper just walked through. She ignored mostly everyone around her, and focused only on where she should be going. Anything anyone would have to say wouldn't be worth her time anyway.

She knew to go to the auditorium first. Seniors of the year always met in there for their class meeting before proceeding with the day. It was a different room for every grade to meet in. Freshmen went to the band room, Sophomores got the gym, and Juniors to the choir room. It was where the class president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer were decided for the year.

Piper found a seat in the back corner and sat on the scratchy seat. All the loner kids were already in here, seeing as they really had no place to go otherwise. She watched as the room filled up with people according to social order: the preps and jocks first, then the average middle class kids, the nerds, the Goths ands skaters, then lastly the druggies and the school skippers.

The room was growing louder, and Piper wasn't sure if the bell had already rung yet or not. She assumed that it either had or was about to, because the class sponsors were climbing up the stage stairs and adjusting the microphones to get the Senior Class's attention.

They called for attention, and it was at this point that Piper _stopped _paying attention. She really didn't care who got the class ranks, it was always the same people every year anyways.

So she decided to look around for any new kids, and was startled to see one right across from her at the end of the row. Piper hadn't even realized anyone was there!

Just from a two second glance, she could tell that this girl was a bad ass person that nobody should mess with. Piper supposed you could call her a goth, but the girl didn't really fit those standards either.

She wore ripped up jeans and a black shirt with red splotches on it, reading something like _Barbie Killed Ken, _but Piper couldn't read the rest. The girls hair was black and spiked up, and she wore an odd looking bracelet around her wrist.

It made Piper, in her white sundress and heels, feel like a prissy, no-brained girl.

Piper sighed and leaned back in her chair, suddenly hearing crinkling of paper coming from the inside of her bag. She got a few looks for disrupting, but they didn't stay long.

Piper's heart raced as she remembered putting it in her bag when she had woken up and groggily placed it in there, too tired to read at the moment.

It was the newest letter from Jason. Piper ached to read it now. It would be so easy. No one was paying attention to her anyhow, and even then, what was so suspicious about a girl reading a random piece of paper?

On second thought, that was very suspicious. They would think that Piper was passing notes, and she didn't want to take the risk of one of the teachers catching her, taking it away, and reading it aloud to the class. It would be absolutely mortifying and Drew would have even _more _of a reason to make fun of her.

Besides, Piper didn't even know what the letter said yet. For all she knew, it could be something really embarrassing. Jason _had_ labeled the last letter in a very romantic way.

So, for the next hour, Piper sat in pure boredom and agony, itching to get out of the auditorium and get the day over with. Piper had guessed right, the usual ranks were filled by the usual people.

Preps got president, which was promptly filled by Drew of course. Nerds took Vice President by putting Malcolm there. A Band Geek, Kayla, won Secretary. And Jake, from the mechanic group got Treasurer to end the voting.

Then it was just the usual yearly announcements that repeated themselves every school year, which by Senior Year, no one listened to. Everyone in the auditorium started shifting and searching through their packets that had been sent home about a week ago, containing locker numbers, schedules, and fees.

Piper pulled out her schedule and looked it over, seeing that she had to go to College English first period.

_Perfect way to start the day_, she thought as she followed her classmates out through the doors and into the already crowded hallways. Piper quickly found her locker in the Senior section on the third floor, right by the stairs. She was overjoyed to find that her locker was the last on the row, with only one opportunity to have a potential neighbor.

She shoved her stuff inside, keeping the packet, a notebook, and pencil out to take to class. Then she made her way through the crowds of congregating students to Miss Calliope's classroom, which wasn't far from Piper's locker.

The classroom had no seats filled yet, but it was decorated enough to make it not seem empty at all. Banners and posters giving slight bits of information to help with writing and reading were strung across the walls. Exotic items from across the world were displayed on empty parts of the shelves where books weren't neatly stacked, giving the room an exciting feeling.

Piper chose one of the front row seats, actually anticipating English class for once. Which was odd, because normally Piper absolutely despised reading and writing. Not because she didn't understand it, no, Piper knew exactly what to do and where to put certain things, but because she had dyslexia. It really put a damper on a subject that she was extremely talented at.

The only reason Piper had even tested into the College English class was because she had a Special Education teacher help her through the test reading.

It was just another reason Piper was made fun of, but she didn't care. Guess who was here now? And it made it all the better that she had worked so hard for it.

The bell rung, and the other Seniors that made the class filled the seats. Piper didn't look around too much, but she saw some familiar faces. Mostly just the nerds of the Seniors, but that didn't make them the bad people. They never made fun of Piper to a point where it was unbearable, unlike _some_ people.

Piper immediately washed all astray thoughts from her mind as soon as the teacher walked in, knowing that she had to pay extremely good attention if she wanted to pass this class.

Miss Calliope strutted to the front of the classroom, her tall heels clacking even on the carpeted floor. The bangles around her wrists jingled as she made a wide welcoming gesture to the class.

"I see you have all journeyed your way to the College English class this year, and I welcome you with warm arms. It is a great honor to be in here, you should know, and I want to make your year as interesting as possible. First though, I need to know the new students' names. I know the rest of you from classes last year, so there is no need to tell me. However, you'll have to introduce yourself to the new pupil." Miss Calliope instructed, pointing the first desk to the right. "Will, why don't you start us off, dear?"

Will nervously looked from Miss Calliope to the class as he pulled himself from the desk chair. "Uh, I'm Will Solace…so hey," he lamely said, attempting to get back to the chair.

Miss Calliope had a different idea though. She held out her arm to stop Will from escaping the class's attention. "And, how about you tell your strength, the thing that made you successful enough to make it here?"

"Um, poetry. Can I be done now?" Will said hurriedly, looking over to Miss Calliope for the right to sit down once more. Apparently, he got it, because he promptly seated himself.

The class went on like that, each introducing themselves and telling what they were best at. Piper discovered that a lot of them had a lot of things in common, but the social order of the school kept them from becoming friends.

She remembered Annabeth telling her one time that her friends now weren't even her friends in high school, but it had taken that long for them to put their social and financial differences aside and taken in what each person was for their personality. Annabeth had said that she wished things had been different back in high school, and that things weren't like that. Piper could totally relate.

Before she knew it, the room was at her attention and the floor was hers. Piper shakily stood up and faced the classroom of people.

"H-hi, I'm Piper McLean," Piper stammered out, trying to stay calm. When nobody laughed, she got a confidence boost, and the next part seemed to come easily in a flow. "I am really good at writing and saying speeches. It just comes to me, I guess."

Miss Calliope nodded in approval, and Piper slammed down into her seat, her heart beating rapidly. She blanked out for the next few people she already knew, but made sure to take note of the new people.

She was surprised to find that the girl with the Barbie Killer shirt was in this class. Her name was Nathalia, which matched her personality in Piper's opinion. Nathalia had a strong voice that would make most people cover in fear, and now that Piper could see her more clearly, she saw that Nathalia had electric blue eyes.

After the introductions, Miss Calliope settled down the class again and proceeded to go over the rules and procedures that went about the daily class. She listed off a few things they would be learning this year, making sure to go into each individual's interests for at least part of the year.

Before Piper knew it, the bell rung, forcing her from the best class of the day and on to the rest. She studied her schedule as she blindly walked down the hallway, making note of the classes she had before lunch. Still three more class periods before lunch, she observed. Physics II, French VI, and Government. Looks like all the hard classes were first.

Physics II was boring, just as Physics I was. For some people that kind of stuff was mind blowing and interesting, but Piper just didn't see it. In fact, she really didn't understand why exactly she had even signed up for the class in the first place. She kept it anyway, deciding that at least it was something to do and would look good on her college application. Besides, Annabeth would give her a guilt trip if she took it off her schedule.

Third period French VI was easy, the language came so easily to Piper. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she aced that class with no problems at all. While other students struggled to understand all the rules and proper grammar skills, let alone the vocabulary, Piper struggled to understand why they didn't understand.

The last class before lunch, Government, turned out to be Piper's second favorite class next to College English. It had always been a secret dream of Piper's to be a politician of some sort because of her abilities in public speaking.

Then finally, fifth period lunch had arrived. Piper grabbed her lunch out of her locker, preferring to bring her own due to being a vegetarian. It wasn't like Piper didn't like meat and thought it was animal abuse to kill animals for food, it was that she was scarred by the awful smell of a meat packaging plant that she had once driven by. Ever since then, Piper had lost her appetite for meat.

Her usual empty spot in the cafeteria was open, thank god. Normally, she would have to inform the new freshmen that it was, in fact, her spot, and they needed to find somewhere else to sit. This was the first year that she wouldn't have to do that.

It was the table by the furthest window to the door, so that meant walking across the entire cafeteria to get there, allowing people to stare or toss the occasional snide remark as Piper walked by.

Other than that little obstacle, her table was the best in the whole cafeteria, in her opinion.

So she sat down and pulled out her vegetarian taco with eagerness, taking notice that the table across from hers was already filled with one of the other usual loners of the grade, Nico Di Angelo.

A random thought flitted across her mind, asking why she never sat with him after all these years. After all, it would have saved a lot of loneliness.

She decided to take advantage of no leering eyes and pulled the letter from Jason out of her backpack pocket. This time, it was similarly labeled, though he had added Piper to the lovely greeting.

Piper quickly read it, absorbing every little bit of information and summarizing how to properly respond. She really couldn't believe this was happening. She wanted to believe someone was playing a mean trick on her, but hardly anyone knew where she lived, and Percy and Annabeth would never do something like this to her.

So, she ripped a piece of notebook paper from the nearest notebook, selected a green pen this time, and started to pour herself into the letter, letting the rest of the school slip from her mind.

_Dear Jason,_

_You were just as surprised as I was when I found a response, don't worry. Though, I was just too tired to really absorb the fact that you actually responded. I guess school does that to you. _

_Your amazement at my notebook paper and pen color is funny, it made me smile. It's just the way the paper is printed on at the factory to help you write straighter. The pen with pink ink came from Wal-Mart, but I guess you have yet to experience that store. I think it was founded in 1962, but I could be wrong. Maybe I should listen to Annabeth, my mom, a little closer when she sprouts random facts. _

_I'm bullied because of my Cherokee ethnicity and the fact that I don't know who my parents are. Well, I know who my dad is, but we don't talk anymore since he is busy with his life as an actor. Since it's like a drought here, people always tell me to do rain dances and all that. It gets annoying after a while, but I deal. Thanks for being kind though. _

_I go by Piper Jackson just for the sake that Percy and Annabeth are more like parents to me than my real ones, so why keep their names? It's not a weird thing here in 2013, in fact, a lot of people have different last names because of divorces and remarriages and things like that. _

_If you're really that interested in my life, then I guess I could tell you about my first day of school at New Rome High being a senior. Overall, it hasn't been all that exciting. I can already tell that my two favorite classes will be College English and Government. I haven't gone to the rest yet as I'm at lunch, but I just have a feeling. _

_Anyways, I should probably sign off and eat before the bell rings. _

_Goodbye for now, _

_Piper_

"I'm going to sit here."

Piper looked up from her taco, startled that someone had actually talked to her. Surprisingly, it was the new girl, Nathalia. Piper nodded and cleared off the table a little to make room. "Uh, sure."

Nathalia gave a grateful smirk. "Sorry, but I can't stand that Drew chick, and you seemed alright. And…you don't really appear to have any friends, no offense," she said, picking up the greasy hamburger from her lunch plate and biting in.

"No, not with Drew's tyranny," Piper agreed. "No one wants to get on her bad side because she knows a lot of blackmailing dirty secrets, so they don't oppose her when she says not to be friends with me."

Nathalia rolled her electric blue eyes. "Already got the welcoming stating that! But uh, Drew encountered a problem," she said in a dangerous voice.

Curious, Piper egged her on. "And what would that be?" she asked, tossing her wrappers in the trash and putting her head on her hands.

"She doesn't even know me! Therefore, she knows no stupid secrets about me that she can use against me. That, and I do my own thing and judge people for myself." Nathalia said, taking another bite. "So, uh, your name is Piper McLean, right?"

Piper was slightly taken aback by the use of her ex-last name, but she quickly covered it up. "Actually, you can call me Piper Jackson, it's the last name of my adoptive parents," she explained.

"That's cool. I don't really know anybody here yet, I suppose that's one of the consequences of being home schooled until you're a senior," Nathalia responded, pushing her tray to the side and fidgeting with the bracelet around her wrist.

Piper straightened out her books on the table. "What's your name? I know you said it in first period, but I don't remember," Piper lied to be respectful, if that made any sense.

Nathalia flattened her hands on the table. "I don't really use my last name, but it's Grace," she said, and Piper's heart rate sped up and the familiar last name.

"As for my first, it's Nathalia. But really, I'd prefer if you just called me Thalia for short, it was my great-aunt's name. So, I'm Thalia Grace," she finished.

As for Piper, she suddenly felt like she had stepped on a raging rollercoaster, heading straight into a time warp.

**Here is the promised chapter five! I hope you like it! **

**Disclaimer: Even if Rick Riordan had a fanfiction account and claimed everything, no one would believe him. So is this really worth it?**

**Thank you for every single review, follow, and favorite! I cannot believe the amount of reviews I already have on this story, and it wouldn't be possible without you! You are truly amazing!**

**P.S. Due to the tremendous requests for a sequel to Fame And Change...I've decided to do it! I realized that I left Dylan out on the loose without meaning to, which is basically asking for me to do a sequel...But you'll have to wait and see...**


	6. The Girl Down The Street

**August 1939**

Turns out, Jason didn't have to worry about taking Percilla out after all.

He'd watched her arrive in town, and he had to admit, she was really pretty, beautiful even. Though it was almost like she was trying to hide it or downplay it, by the plain white dress and choppy brown hair she wore. She had kept her head down, not allowing herself to catch eyesight with anyone.

That was all he could tell from the grocery store porch, though. The Stoll family lived just a few residences down main street, and they manned the post office. Katie Stoll sold all the fresh produce to all the businesses in town, but her main customer was the grocery store.

In truth, Jason wasn't sure whether he was happy he didn't have to take her out, or slightly disappointed. Though, Thalia had made sure to arrange a date with Katie Stoll for Jason and Percilla to go out. Which happened to be tonight.

It was Saturday afternoon, and most of the people of New Rome were lazily lounging around due to the immense summer heat that had not yet passed. Thalia could be heard downstairs talking to someone about politics again, but Jason was sitting at his desk trying to forge another letter to Piper.

They'd been exchanging letters everyday since Jason accidentally sent the first one, and he found himself even more mystified with every one about this girl from the future. Things were so different in 2013. Jason couldn't imagine how this world could change so much in seventy-four years.

Piper blamed it on the 1980's.

But the technology wasn't the only thing that seemed out of place, it was the way people treated each other and themselves that was especially surprising. Granted, yes, in 1939 people did make fun of each other and use bullying to their advantage, but not to the lengths that Piper was experiencing.

She spoke of people who intentionally cut themselves to relieve the pain, and kids and adults who committed suicide when things got to be too much. People who bullied each other for the slightest differences, so much that there were lots of campaigns against it.

And the weirdest thing was, most people in her time weren't even face-to-face bullied like Jason was used to. They did it over messages through a phone or some other device that she called a 'computer', if that made any sense. It sure didn't to Jason, but she said not to worry, he'd see it in his life time.

Piper seemed like she was from a foreign land and it kind of scared Jason. But at the same time, she was so intriguing and she understood how Jason felt about things.

It wasn't possible to fall for a girl he'd never even met in real life, was it?

Anyways, he reminded himself, it was pointless to even like her because there was no chance that they could even have a life together. Jason couldn't just go tell Leo, "Yeah, I got a girlfriend, but I can't show you her because she lives seventy four years in the future. I can show you the letters she magically sent me, though!"

Jason wasn't sure that would go over too well.

He stared blankly at the empty sheet of paper situated so nicely on the mahogany desk. For once, Jason honestly didn't know what to write down. Normally, things came easily because writing to Piper _was_ easy since she wasn't so judgmental.

_Beautiful Piper, _

_You should send me a small piece of one of your speeches, I should like to read one, though it wouldn't be the same without hearing your voice. You don't suppose that if we called one another over the telephone that it would work in the same way the desk does? I wouldn't think so, but it might be worth a try. _

_Am I allowed to fall for you? It seems unfair that we are separated by such a thing as time, because with every single letter I receive from you, I find myself smitten with you perhaps even more. You are just such an wonderful person, I can hardly believe it. _

Jason stared at what he had written for a second, then added something that had been in the back of his mind for a while.

_I know this is a very off topic question and wouldn't be fair to you, but am I still alive in 2013? You don't necessarily have to answer, I can understand how disturbing that would be for you to find me as an old person. _

Jason left off there, making a mental note to finish it after his 'date' with Percilla. Piper had been bothering him about that ever since he mentioned her for some reason, like she wanted to know more about her. It was a little odd, but Jason just decided to pass it off as jealousy.

He looked at the clock on the wall and realized that it was almost six o'clock already, and he was due to pick Percilla up at six-thirty. Jason was actually surprised Thalia hadn't been bugging the hell out of him and making sure he was getting ready. He knew she meant well and cared for him, but it seriously got annoying after a while.

The mirror in the bathroom approved of Jason's looks well enough, but there wasn't really much to do anyway. His close cropped blonde hair was all in place and his white shirt was presentable as far as Jason was concerned.

Jason stumbled out of the bathroom and started down the wooden stairs, now starting to notice the nerves building up in his chest. He needed a game plan on how to talk to Percilla. How on earth would he talk to someone that pretty?

_Just talk to her like she's the flesh version of Piper, _a voice said to him in his head out of nowhere.

Actually, Jason had to admit it was a good idea. It would make Jason feel more comfortable and more himself because he wouldn't have to act in a certain way. If it was Piper, she would accept him for himself.

Thalia was done talking politics by now with no customers, so she was arranging the shelves and making all the products look orderly and neat. Dakota was slicing and packaging meat in the back, and Gwen was in her office filling out order forms.

As Jason entered the room, Thalia happily looked up from the jars she had been straightening. "Are you going to pick up Percilla?"

"Yes," Jason shortly answered, making a beeline for the door before Thalia could become an overbearing, annoying older sister again.

"Have fun!" Thalia was able to call out before Jason completely exited the grocery store.

Jason rolled his eyes as he was greeted by the thickening amount of traffic on the New Rome streets of both people and cars. Well, it _was_ Saturday night. Everybody would be attending the town tonight to have a little fun. But if Jason had to put his money on it, he'd bet they were all going to the drive in theater at the edge of town.

Leo and Reyna drove by, and Jason ran out into the street to catch his ride. "Hey, Valdez!"

The car came to an abrupt stop. Leo jumped up from the driver's seat, and Jason could see that he hadn't really bothered to clean up to terribly much due to the grease smudge on his cheek. "Want a ride so you can pick up your sweetheart? You can ride in the back!"

"Alright, I think I just might take that offer," Jason responded and climbed into the back row.

Reyna looked back and rolled her eyes. "Is it really that difficult to walk a few houses over? What is the world going to come to if all people become this lazy?"

Though Jason could tell her exactly what this world was going to come to if he wanted, he decided to shut his mouth. "Aw, Reyna. Don't be such a stick in the mud," he said instead.

"Exactly! That's what I tell her all the time!" Leo happily agreed as he hit the gas pedal and started going along the street.

"Leo, no matter the situation, it is never a good idea to 'act like a robber and take all of Hazel's jewels just to freak her out'!" Reyna chided, straightening out her deep purple dress.

Jason knew Hazel would freak out. She was a classmate from school who had moved to New Rome just a few years ago. Hazel had inherited a decent sum of precious jewels and metals from her parents as pay for college schooling and room and board at New Rome. She protected those things with her life and would never let anyone even look at them sometimes.

Leo stopped in front of the Stoll's and looked over to Reyna. "Dear, you make it sound so much worse than it really was. Just a bit of fun, Hazel would laugh once she figured it out," he assured. "Alright, Lover Boy, get out of my car and go get your sweetie!"

Jason did his best to ignore Leo and climbed out the back seat and landed on the sidewalk. He walked into the post office like normal customers do, just because the Stolls as well lived above their business.

Inside, the post office was experiencing its normal amount of traffic, which was to say maybe one or two people. Post boxes lined the walls for the people of New Rome, and Connor, Travis's brother, was busy with a stack of mail to sort into the correct boxes. At the counter was Katie, and she was arranging a bundle of purple irises in a vase.

At one time, Jason remembered Katie as being a very pretty lady. She was about the same age as Thalia, about twenty two, but the Depression had not left her beauty untouched, as with most of the women. Katie's long earthy hair was stringy and windblown, hastily pulled back into a bun. She had sun marks clearly written across her face from the garden, and she was wearing a worn out apron and a simple brown dress.

Once she saw Jason, her eyes lit up. "Mr. Grace, how lovely of you to take Percilla out tonight! She hasn't been much of anywhere since she got here, and it's so nice of you to do this!" Katie babbled on to Jason, making her way up the stairs.

She disappeared for a few moments, and Jason was pretty sure he heard a muffled _Travis-Stoll-you-are-twenty-five-so-act-like-it _episode, but soon the sound of feet upon the stairs was able to be heard.

Katie came out first, her hand practically forcing Percilla down the stairs. But then, Percilla came out, maybe not with the best of moods but she was still there.

If Jason was awed by her beauty before, up close was a totally different picture. Beauty was an insult. This girl was gorgeous without even trying, which was pretty obvious that she hadn't tried at all.

Like he had first observed through the window, her chocolate hair was choppy and in random braids in a sort of childish way. She wore a light blue summer dress with low white heels in a modest sort of way, something girls were trying to get away from these days.

But most of all, the thing that stood out the most was her eyes. They changed colors so quickly that Jason couldn't even identify which they were. Blue to green to brown and back to blue. Sometimes the colors would mix and make an unusual color. They were almost kaleidoscopic.

"Um, is there something wrong?" Percilla asked, fingering the leather wallet in her hand.

Jason snapped out of his fascination. "Oh, sorry. Nothing at all. Shall we be going? Leo might start to start trouble out of boredom if we take too long," he explained.

Percilla shrugged. "You were the one that was taking all the time with all your staring. It's like you've never seen one of the female species before."

"Oh, right," Jason throatily said, not really knowing how to respond to that. He held open the door for her as they walked through, trying his best to disregard the look he was getting from Katie.

Great, now Thalia was going to know exactly how he and Percilla left. So much for a little bit of privacy.

Outside, Leo and Reyna were arguing about something stupid again, with Leo just being himself and Reyna using her usual death threats that she'd never really go through with.

"Percilla, this is Leo, and that is Reyna if they ever shut-up," Jason introduced. He helped her into the back of the car and the couple up front finally silenced themselves.

They drove to the drive in theatre just outside town, which was just about to start by the time they got there. Luckily, there was a spot open near the front, so Leo took the opportunity.

The movie they watched, The Wizard of Oz, was actually better than Jason expected, though maybe he would've enjoyed it a little more if things hadn't been so awkward.

Percilla kept her distance from Jason the entire movie, like she was scared to be to close. Though Jason had thrown out a blanket on the grass in front of the car, they didn't use it until Leo and Reyna got bored and started to make out. Honestly, Jason would've been perfectly happy if they could've just held their boredom down until the end of the movie.

The credits started to play, and Jason realized that he wasn't completely happy with the way that movie ended. So what, the fake wizard just continued being fake? Was Oz even a real place, or was that still a dream? Were Dorothy's memories possibly erased, but she really went there and didn't remember?

He decided not to over analyze it, especially when he heard the car that was his ride start up and leave.

"Was that just-"

"Our ride? Yes," Jason hurriedly finished in response to Percilla. He ran after the car, shouting a variety of phrases at Leo, the nicest being, "Leo! I hope Reyna viciously murders you, god damnit!"

They ended up walking home, because obviously Leo was not coming back. Percilla was walking barefoot, her heels long abandoned before they barely exited the lot.

It was times like these when Jason really wished he and Thalia had invested in a car. Too bad Tempest was at the town stables, because he could've really been helpful. Of course, Jason hadn't been planning on Leo completely ditching him.

So he tried for conversation. "So, Percilla-"

"Perry. Call me Perry," Percilla interrupted. "Percilla sounds so ladylike and proper and snobby. It's just not me," she apologetically explained.

Jason reassuringly smiled. "It's okay, I understand. So, Perry, what made you want to come to New Rome?"

Perry kicked the dirt with her bare feet. The town was getting closer now. "I wanted to get a few months of school in before I left for New York to work in a clothing factory. It won't really matter, but at least I tried to graduate."

"Are there a lot of jobs available there?" Jason asked, slightly disappointed that she would be leaving so soon.

She laughed. "There definitely will be if there's a war, even if the U. S. doesn't get involved. You know we'll be supporting somebody with supplies, and somebody has to make them in a factory," Perry said.

Jason nodded in agreement. "Makes sense, I suppose. But why do you want to leave here? New Rome is a great town to live in. You could stay, you know," he suggested just as they passed into the city limits.

"Do you want me to stay, Jason?" Perry asked with her kaleidoscopic eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

Jason felt his face heating up. He decided that his plan had worked out perfectly, it was so much easier to talk to Perry as if she was Piper. So, he responded how he would to her.

"It'd be nice," he managed to say, and quickly kissed her on the cheek out of impulse.

Perry was stunned for a moment, but then she started to run at him. "Jason Grace!"

* * *

**Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites! I hope you love this story as much as I do! **

**P.S. On the second week of July I will be on vacation, so updates might be a little slow around that time. **


	7. Coincidental

**September 2013**

Piper was officially freaked out.

Jason's letter from last night that she had received this morning in the desk was extremely creepy. Piper had memorized it even more than the very first letter, just because she was trying to absorb every detail.

The desk had something special about it, and Piper didn't know what. How did it take her letters and send them to the past by just putting a letter in the crack between the drawer? It didn't seem like it was possible, but she didn't know how else to explain the last two weeks of her life.

_Beautiful Piper, _

_You should send me a small piece of one of your speeches, I should like to read one, though it wouldn't be the same without hearing your voice. You don't suppose that if we called one another over the telephone that it would work in the same way the desk does? I wouldn't think so, but it might be worth a try. _

_Am I allowed to fall for you? It seems unfair that we are separated by such a thing as time, because with every single letter I receive from you, I find myself smitten with you perhaps even more. You are just such an wonderful person, I can hardly believe it. _

_I know this is a very off topic question and wouldn't be fair to you, but am I still alive in 2013? You don't necessarily have to answer, I can understand how disturbing that would be for you to find me as an old person. _

_My night with Percilla (or Perry as she likes to be called), was surprisingly enjoyable. We went with Leo and Reyna to the drive in theatre to watch the Wizard of Oz, which ended up with those two driving off without us and leaving us to walk home. Mind you, the theatre is about a half mile out of town. _

_Anyways, as you requested, I'll tell you everything about Perry that I found out from our walk home. I suppose I'll start with her appearance. Being a Lakota, she of course has a darker tone of skin, but this doesn't bother me. She has extremely choppy brown hair and she is very beautiful. I think the most intriguing thing about her is her eyes, which seem to change color with every second. I'd even call them kaleidoscopic. _

_Perry dresses very modestly for the late 1930's, but in a very cute way. She won't be in New Rome for long because she plans to leave for a clothing factory since she believes jobs will be heavily available once the wars start. _

_And that's about all I know for now. I'll try to meet with her tomorrow and find out more. I'm sure Katie and Thalia are talking about my date at this moment. _

_Forever Yours,_

_Jason_

Piper stared in the mirror, trying to decipher all the events she had encountered since the first letter. If only she'd had time to go to the library lately! Piper had been so busy that she hadn't been able to get there in the few hours they were open, since their hours were so weird due to the reconstruction of the entire library.

Nathalia was the first person that had been out of normalcy. Nathalia said she had been named after her great great-aunt, whose name was Thalia.

Jason's sister was named Thalia. Could Thalia possibly be Nathalia's great-great aunt? Thalia wasn't a very popular name, at least Piper had never heard of it.

Which would mean Nathalia's great-grandfather would be _Jason_. And to have the children that would be her grandparents, Jason would've gotten married. Who did he get married to? Percilla, perhaps?

And Percilla was an entirely different subject.

Piper stared at her reflection curiously. Brown choppy hair. Darker skin due to Native American heritage. Kaleidoscopic eyes.

It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Perry was Piper in 1939, her doppelganger, that was the only solution Piper had been able to come up with.

Unlike Nathalia, Piper couldn't be a descendant of Perry. Jason had told her Perry was Lakota. Piper, however, was Cherokee. Not full blood, but half. And the other half was her mother's blood, which Piper knew for a fact had not a drop of Native American in it.

This was what scared Piper. She could compare what was happening in her life to a mirror. She and Jason lived their very different lives on opposite sides of the mirror, but the people were identical.

In conclusion, that meant there was a Jason here in 2013.

Piper frowned and pulled her hair back. She needed to stop worrying about a possible present day Jason and focus on the 1939 one. The one who was falling for her.

In truth, Piper really didn't know how to feel about Jason. She knew that she liked him, a lot, but her mind was against the whole affair. Her mind said it was impossible and not worth it. Why fall for a guy that she would never be able to actually be with in real life anyway? It was like she was a average girl falling for the most famous singer in the world. No chance.

But her heart said it was okay to love someone she'd never meet. Someone who understood her, even if things were doomed.

Piper left the bathroom in a rather sour mood. Of course, it was a Monday, her time being one day ahead of Jason's for some reason.

She was just about ready to get going to start the second week of school, other than she still had to eat the amazing breakfast that Annabeth had cooked which she could smell coming from the kitchen.

Piper glanced at the letter one more time, looked at her clothing choice for the day, and groaned. She even _dressed_ like a modern day version of Percilla. Piper was half tempted to go back and change from the flowing light blue tank top and white flats to something else.

"Piper! If you don't hurry it up, you're going to be late!" Annabeth called from the kitchen.

Defeated, Piper forcibly walked away from her bedroom door and towards the kitchen and the smell of food. "I'm coming," she responded from the hallway.

As promised, a nice plate of food was already waiting for her at the table, full of blue pancakes and eggs. Annabeth was sitting at her usual seat, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the daily newspaper, _The Rome Herald_.

Annabeth looked up as Piper sat down. "Piper, there's something we need to talk about," she calmly started.

Almost immediately, Piper's heart began to race. How did Annabeth find out about the letters? Oh, she was so stupid to assume Annabeth wouldn't notice something was up! What was Annabeth going to do about it?

Piper decided to pull a Percy and play dumb. "Okay, what do we need to talk about?"

"School-"

"Annabeth, it's really no big deal this year. I even made a few friends, like Nathalia and Nico. No one even really picks on me this year! I'm happy, trust me," Piper quickly reassured, interrupting Annabeth.

Annabeth smiled. "It's not about how you're doing at school, I know you're doing better," she said. "But this is about a potential job opportunity for me."

"Oh," Piper said with a little bit of embarrassment. "With what?"

Annabeth picked a pencil off the table and spun it around. "You're familiar with the Woods class teacher, Mrs. Ictinus, right?" she asked, and Piper nodded. "Well, she's about eight months pregnant and unable to operate machinery safely. I was asked to take her place for the time she gets off as Industrial Arts teacher. I might even get her job next year because she might not be continuing."

Piper took her first bite of her breakfast. "That's great, Annabeth! Then you and Percy will both be working at the school and you won't have to worry about getting enough money to pay for the bills.."

"And it's a lot like architecture," Annabeth finished. "It's not what I've always dreamed of, but I guess I have to take options when I have the chance."

Piper looked at the white kitchen clock on the wall as she shoved the last of her eggs in her mouth. "Oh, damn! I'm going to be late for school!"

"Piper! Watch your mouth," Annabeth reprimanded as Piper hurriedly grabbed her backpack from her desk in her room and sprinted out the house.

"Sorry, bye!" Piper called out, pulling out her keys from her pocket and shoving herself in her car. She drove to school as fast as she could without getting caught by the cops and pulled over to an empty spot by the side of the park.

She sprinted across the neatly cut grass, ignoring the sidewalk like she always did. Only the skippers were out, which wasn't a good sign at all. Piper couldn't be late for College English!

Piper ran through the doors and up two flights of stairs to get to the third floor English room. She slammed open her locker, shoved her backpack in, and took out her College English books.

Just a few kids were out in the hallways now, and Piper walked, or ran, rather, into Miss Calliope's classroom. She collapsed into her seat at the front of the classroom with everyone staring at her.

"What?" Piper asked the class. "I'm not late, am I?" she told the class informatively, causing them to burst out in laughter. But not the mean kind, the kind that appreciated what Piper said in a humorous way.

The class chitchatted for a few more moments before Thalia actually did walk in late, today sporting a tight black shirt with dark jeans and boots. "I'm late, Miss Calliope," Thalia announced.

Miss Calliope sighed at her desk and adjusted the bangles on her arms. "As usual, Miss Grace. Perhaps you should adjust your alarm clock?"

Thalia sat down at her chair behind Piper and threw her books on the desktop. "Alarm clock is fine, and the snooze button works wonderfully. But thank you, Miss Calliope for asking!"

The happy attitude that this class contained was one of the main reasons Piper loved it so. Unlike with most teachers, Thalia actually got along with Miss Calliope just fine, even with her continual lateness. That was an achievement within itself.

After the excitement died down, the class split into their usual groups and started working on their individual projects. This assignment was to write a speech expressing how they feel about something by intertwining it with the English element that they felt the most comfortable with. Like if someone was passionate about the environment and felt most comfortable with poetry, they would make a selection of poems expressing that.

Piper, Thalia, and Nico moved their desks together, with Thalia facing Piper and Nico on the other side. Piper pulled out her blue notebook and stared at the sparse amount of notes she had started for her speech. She'd decided to do hers on family heritage, though she had no idea why. Piper hardly knew her dad and knew nothing about her own mother, so why did this interest her so?

The truth was, Piper had been curious about the topic every since she had started to write to Jason every day and found Nathalia to be the great-great niece of the original Thalia Grace.

After all, a person's family tree was the foundation of their being. It didn't mean that they had to necessarily claim their family, but they wouldn't be there without them.

And anyways, Piper was almost only using this topic to maybe get a little more family information from Thalia, since she had agreed to be a source. Besides, now Annabeth wouldn't be skeptical of what Piper was doing when she went to the library to get Jason's information.

Thalia flattened a red, white, and blue poster on her desk and slammed it. "This is what I want to do," she firmly stated.

Piper shared a look with Nico and leaned over to read the poster.

**Do You Have What It Takes To Be Student Body President?**

_Sign up in the office by this Friday to receive your free blank poster boards and other materials. Anything not supplied you are responsible for. Your posters must be original and appropriate for the school facility. As Student Body President, you must display leadership and responsibility for your actions. You should be a role model for lower classmen and contribute to the school and city of New Rome as expected. _

_The final count and announcement of the new Student Body President for the school year of 2013-2014 with be on Friday, September 13, at 3:05 p.m. Students will be expected to stay in their 8__th__ period classes until the final bell rings unless they are a contestant, who will be dismissed at the beginning of 8__th__ period. _

_Certain qualifications may apply; see the school counselor for details on how that might affect you and your running. _

Nico pressed his lips together. "Thals, are you serious?" he asked, and Piper noticed a contained laugh.

"Of course I'm serious!" Thalia snapped, pulling the poster back. "And I'm also going to make it a part of my speech for this class!"

Piper's mind flitted back to the first letter Jason sent her, when he had said that the first Thalia would've made a great president someday. "I think you should do it," Piper said.

Thalia smirked victoriously. "In your face, Nico! And thank you, Piper. But it wasn't necessary. I already signed up, that's why I was late for class _this_ morning. Are you free to come help with the posters this afternoon?"

"Yeah, I'll come help-"

"Are you two insane?" Nico interrupted, his olive skin becoming even paler. "Piper, you've been going to school in New Rome since kindergarten. You know how the totem pole is here! You're basically encouraging the new girl-"

"The name's Nathalia!"

Nico waved Thalia off and continued. "Fine, you're basically setting _Thalia_ up for slaughter!"

The last part of Nico's rant came out a little loud, and the entire class turned to the center of the excitement. Piper sunk in her seat, propping her blue notebook up on the desk, while Nico flushed.

The only one left unfazed was Thalia. "Wow, you really are an Italian, Death Breath," she loudly said. "You sure get riled up quick. Tell you what, I definitely want you on Team Nathalia. What do you say?"

Piper decided Jason was right. Thalia was going to be a great President.

* * *

_Dear Jason,_

_Thank you so much, your comments are really flattering, Jason. I'm not sure how well the whole telephone thing would go though, since our technology is so different. Plus, your telephone number probably belongs to someone else in my time. _

_Jason, I want you to understand something. I really like you. I can feel myself falling deeper and deeper for you with every heartfelt letter. You're so romantic and you're everything I could ever want, please know that. _

_But is it worth it? You have Perry now, you don't need me. I jut want you to consider that before we get into this too deep. Perry sounds like a wonderful girl. I hope good things for the two of you, I really do. _

_Also, Jason, we need to talk. Not yet, but later, when I find out more. I have to make a trip to the library first, and then I'll tell you everything I know. I promise from the bottom of my heart._

_Love, _

_Piper_

Piper stared at the letter she had just written after spending her afternoon at her house making posters with Nico and Thalia. She was utterly disgusted by herself and what she had written to Jason.

But it was nearing midnight, and Piper had noticed that that was the time when the letters transferred between the time differences. There was no time to rewrite the letter.

So she slipped the letter into the crack between the drawer, and flopped on her bed, trying to ignore Annabeth's grandfather clock's ominous striking.

* * *

**It's Demitria's day off, so guess what she spent it doing? Yes, writing this chapter, which, by the way, I hope is okay. I'm not satisfied with it, because I hate what I'm doing to my own story in order to make things happen right. **

**I think I'm just being a perfectionist. **

**Enough of that. Thank you to everyone for favoriting, reviewing, following, and overall just reading! And a special thanks to SummerSpirit18 for being the 100th reviewer! **


	8. She's Not My Sweetheart

**September 1939**

"Jason, are you coming to school this year, or not?" a feminine voice said from the doorway.

Jason groaned and rolled over in his bed. "Do I have to, Thalia? I can just go back home and try to see what I can do with the place. I don't need to go to school when I know how to farm," he complained.

He felt the covers being separated from the safety of his body, and his eyes met a beautiful pair of kaleidoscopic ones. "I may be a Lakota, but I know that farm boys go to school during the winter seasons. And it's not the eighteen hundreds anymore! It's the twentieth century, and your education is important," the girl said.

Jason jumped back in his bed, pulling the thin sheet over his bare chest. "Perry! What are you doing here?"

The brunette girl laughed with her arms crossed. "Waking you up, that's what. Now come on! I don't want to be late as well!

"Alright, I'm going," Jason said, getting up but not uncovering his chest. "Could you, um, leave so I can…"

Perry blushed and pursed her lips in a cute way. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything," she said in a flustered voice, as if just now realizing that Jason wasn't dressed. "I'll just be out here."

The door closed, and Jason found himself lightly chuckling. Perry was a different kind of girl, that was for sure. He pulled one his white shirts out of his dresser and slipped on a pair of jeans. Before opening the door again, Jason reached into the desk drawer and felt the familiar foreign paper that signaled Piper's response.

He studied the label, noticing that she had pressed the ink into the paper with a lot of force. He wondered what that was about, but he decided to ponder on that later. Jason folded the thin, blue lined paper and shoved it into his pocket.

"Jason, you're taking forever. I'm a girl and I get ready quicker than you," Perry called through the wooden door.

He opened the door to face the wondrous girl. "I'm right here. Were you worried I'd left you?"

Perry lightly popped his head, but her eyes gave away that she didn't mean it. "Don't be a twit now. You aren't going nowhere but school anyhow. You can't hide from me," she taunted, pushing her braid behind her shoulder and turning to walk down the stairs.

Jason could swear he felt Piper's letter burning in his pocket as he stared in amazement at the other girl in his life. He'd only met Perry last night, but in that walk home things had definitely taken a turn down an unexpected road.

But what could he do? Both of Perry and Piper had personalities like no other. They were unforgettable. Besides, this thing he had with Perry, assuming something was there, of course, would be gone as soon as Perry left for the Big Apple.

And then where would Jason be? Back to having a girl he could only have through letters?

He decided to embrace the moment while he had it. Negative thoughts never did any good for the world.

Jason followed Perry's lead down the stairs to find her avidly talking with Thalia, who was busy arranging a shelf of jams and jellies. He vaguely wondered if Thalia had set him up and sent Perry up to wake him, knowing it would be completely mortifying.

He vetoed the thought, because Thalia wasn't that disrespectful to Jason's privacy. He wasn't saying Perry was disrespectful, though. She probably just didn't know any better.

"Good morning, Jason," Thalia said, unpacking a case of strawberry jam. "I see that Perry can get you up faster than even I can," she mused with a smirk.

Jason sat up on the counter, taking a piece of bread from the plate. "Of course she did since I wasn't decent."

Perry blushed, apparently remembering the scene. "I said I was sorry!" she mumbled and then busied herself with grabbing a piece of bread to eat.

The door dinged open as a taller man walked in to the grocery store. "We're no open until-" Thalia informed him, but then abruptly stopped.

The man looked to be about Thalia's age, with sandy blonde hair and icy blue eyes. He was quite handsome, but an ugly scar across the side of his face disfigured his looks. "Are you the farm girl everyone talks about who moved to New Rome?"

Thalia's face tightened, and she moved away from the box of jars. "I wasn't aware that everyone spoke of me. Do you need something?" she asked.

Jason shared a look with Perry, who had questions written in her colorful eyes. He tried to pass on the silent message that he had no idea who this man is, but he didn't think Perry understood.

"But where are my manners?" the man exclaimed, holding out a hand to Thalia. "Luke Castellan. I own the train station here in New Rome. I simply came by to ask if you'd like to accompany me to the New Rome Days dance this Friday. Of course, if that's alright with the man of the house," he said, looking over to Jason.

Jason almost dropped the remaining crumbs of his bread slice. He was almost never addressed as the man of the house, probably because Thalia showed so much authority it wasn't necessary. But this man was undermining Thalia by asking Jason's permission. He didn't think that was sit with Thalia so well.

But on second thought, Thalia had forced him on that date with Perry last night. "It's all fine and dandy with me, Mr. Castellan. I'm sure my sister would be delighted to accompany you."

* * *

Friday night came faster than Jason expected.

Thalia was in the living room, forcing herself into a dressy black dress with short sleeves, complaining about each and everything. "Jason, I am so getting my revenge on you for this. I don't even know the man!"

Jason smirked as he sat on his desk, staring at Monday's letter from Piper. "I didn't know Perry, either. I think we're even."

"Look at me, Jason!" Thalia said, her low heels making a clanking noise on the wooden floor as she walked to the doorway.

Jason looked up. Thalia's hair had slightly grown longer than a bob, but she had put it up into a small bun on the top of her head with a silver clip. Her black dress was so unused that it almost shimmered in the dim light of their home. Thalia's wrist held her silver bracelet that she wore almost everyday due to superstition.

"I don't see anything wrong. You look fine," Jason observed, picking up the pencil and randomly drawing in the edges of a blank piece of paper that would eventually serve as a response to Piper.

Thalia glared at him. "That's the problem! If Luke sees me, he'll think that I would be a proper wife and will probably ask for my hand! Dear lord, I'm already an old maid on most standards, mother would be so ashamed and would be after my head. But I don't want to be wed, not yet!"

Jason stood up from his chair and took his sister's rough hands. "Thalia, if he has any respect for you, he'll understand and will wait for you to be ready. Just see how tonight goes and go from there," he assured her.

"Yes. Yes, I can do that," Thalia agreed, but Jason was sure it was more to herself. She took a deep breath and turned away from Jason. She looked down the stairs as if she was about to vomit, but then took the first step.

Jason returned to his blank letter, but then Thalia called out for him.

"Jason, are you and Percilla attending the dance as well?" she asked from the stairwell.

He nodded. "Yes, Leo said that he and Reyna would pick her up and then me. We'll be there shortly depending on how much fighting Leo and Reyna do that delays things."

Thalia took another breath as headlights blared up the staircase, illuminating her figure. "Luke is here. See you in a while," she said, disappearing.

Jason attempted to start his letter back to Piper for the twentieth time this week. He'd never taken this long to respond to the futuristic girl, but her last letter had been awfully…distant.

She said she liked him one minute, but then told him to find someone else. What was Jason supposed to do with that? Not for the first time, he found himself not understanding what Piper meant.

He wondered if she'd just had a bad day or something, causing her to be harsh in her letter. But then again, it seemed like she was hiding something. And this 'we need to talk'? Jason didn't know what that was for, but he didn't think it was a good thing.

_Dearest Piper,_

_Has something gone wrong between us? Or am I simply misreading our letters that we exchanged? _

_Piper, please do not worry about Perry. She will not change anything. She leaves for New York in just a short while, and though I like her a lot, it will all be for nothing unless she stays or comes back. _

_In truth to you, I have many deep feelings for you that I could never possibly forget. Please remember that yourself as you go on with your life in 2013._

_On a happier note, I finally got my revenge on Thalia for setting up my date with Perry. Monday morning, a sandy haired man named Luke Castellan came in and asked to take Thalia to the New Rome Days annual dance. And then, he asked my permission, giving Thalia practically no choice. _

_Now she's worried he'll ask for her hand in marriage, which she says she's not ready for. I hope they do eventually get married, just in spite. _

_Meanwhile, war has started overseas. We talk about it in hushed tones at school, but I'm not so convinced about this neutral thing America claims to be keeping. Also, I'm no longer afraid to join the service if I have to, which makes me almost happy. It is my duty to the country I live in. _

_Besides, Leo said he'd love to go with me so we can serve together. I don't think Reyna was too happy about that, seeing as she'd have to stay here while the two people closest to her left. _

_Love, _

_Jason_

Jason stared at the now full page in front of him in satisfaction. He was amazed at how quickly he could write to Piper when the words came to his pen in the right way. He was happy that he had been able to respond to her on a rather pleasant note.

He heard the honking of a spastic horn outside the grocery store, and Jason took that as the sign that his ride had arrived. He quickly folded the letter and addressed it, then stuck it in the broken drawer. He grabbed his jacket and stumbled down the stairs down to his friends.

In Leo's car, both Reyna and Perry were looking exceptionally beautiful. Reyna was in a dark purple dress with her black hair done back in a low old fashioned braid folded into a bun, and Perry in a red with her hair let loose from it's usual choppy braids with an eagle feather pinned to the side.

Jason decided he liked her hair better that way. Jason slipped into the front seat beside Leo since both the girls were in the back, and Leo gave him one of his crazy smiles.

"You ready to dance your romantic heart out tonight, Grace?"

Jason snorted. "If you and Reyna don't set the place on fire first," he replied as Leo hit the gas.

Perry pulled herself up from the back seat and leaned closer to the two boys. "You've set places on fire before?"

"Correction, _Leo_ has set places on fire before and shared the blame with me," Reyna informed Perry, crossing her arms in a dangerous way.

The city hall where the dance was being held loomed in front of them, and Leo parked on the side. The hall was decorated with gold and purple extravagantly, and swing music could be heard loudly playing.

"Sweetie, I've told you before. That candle lit itself on fire, I had nothing to do with it," Leo said, turning around in the black seats.

Jason took Perry's hand and helped her out of the car. "It's better that you don't ask," Jason told her as they walked into the bright doorway.

Jason handed the ticket man the appropriate slips, and they stepped into the elegantly decorated hall together. All around, people were dancing fast paced to the swing music, while others were sitting at round tables laughing and socializing.

He took her soft, delicate hands and pulled her to the dance floor. She froze up for a moment before leaning close and whispering into Jason's ear. "I don't know how to dance like this," she told him in a scared voice.

"It's okay, I'll teach you," Jason told her with a smile. "First, you've got to loosen up. Let your body glide with the music."

Perry's body loosened considerably, and she swayed with the beat. "Okay. Lead the way. I think I can follow."

He pulled her hands to the side, effectively swinging her over. She smiled but quickly caught on as they repeated and went to the opposite side. Jason let her get used to the swinging motion the dance caused before introducing something new.

Without warning, he pulled their hands into the air and spun her around a few times. Perry gave him a smirk that let him know that she had caught onto the rhythm of this foreign dance.

Soon, they were ducking, spinning, flipping, and well, swinging, all over the place. Perry was a quick learner, and was soon almost making Jason hesitate before taking on the next dance move.

When the song ended, both of them were so tired that they mentally agreed to take a break at one of the round tables. Jason poured some water into the glass on the table, and Perry dabbed at the sweat on her face with a towel.

"That was wonderful, Jason. You're a great dancer, really. I'm having a very nice time," Perry said in an exasperated voice.

Jason laughed and almost chugged his glass in one drink. "Thank you, but you're really something to dance with. I've never danced that much just to one song."

Perry didn't answer, instead pointing to a table near the end. "Is that your sister?"

He followed her gaze, and indeed found it was his sister. And she was laughing and having a good time with Luke. "It sure is. You wouldn't think she'd be that happy based on how she talked all week," he confirmed.

Perry took another drink of water. "Oh, really?"

"Having a great time out there dancing with your sweetheart?" a joking girl asked, who turned out to be Hazel.

Jason eyed the cinnamon haired girl with gold eyes while Perry blushed. "She's not my sweetheart, Miss Levesque. Now you run along with Sammy," he told her, though he didn't really mean it.

Hazel fanned her face, the jewels adorned across her dress and neck shining. "Sammy is too busy causing trouble with his cousin, I just talked to Reyna. She said she'd try to put a stop to it. You know Leo would do anything for that girl. Well, I'll be off then. See you around, Perry," Hazel said turning away from the two of them.

"Did you really mean that?" Perry asked with hurt in her voice.

Jason looked at her with question. "Mean what?"

Perry sighed and played with the ice in her glass of water. "We're not anything more than friends at all? Did anything this past week mean nothing to you?"

"Oh, Perry. It's not like that! Hazel was just teasing, really," Jason said in surprise, but it didn't change Perry's expression. Jason shifted in the chair uncomfortably. "Unless you want to…"

Perry gave a small suppressed smile. "Want to be more than friends, is that what you're trying to say?"

Jason didn't understand how the female mind worked, but he knew that his easy responses to upset girls had run out after his letter to Piper. "Perry, would you like to dance?"

* * *

**So I tried my literal hardest to get this chapter up before I left for vacation for a week, which is to say tonight (A day earlier than planned!) It totally messed up everything! So if there are any mistakes, excuse my hasty writing. **

**Thank you for your amazing reviews, follows, and favorites! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far!**

**Also, if you're interested in the sequel to Fame And Change, please go to my profile and vote on the poll! All votes are appreciated because they will help me plan the story!**

**Onward, please excuse the more than likely very late update on both my stories since I will be in a location where a computer and internet will not be accessible. Thank you for your patience!**


	9. A Royal Mistake

**September 2013**

"Do you think this is a little too much black? I don't think you want the school to think that you're going to kill them all," Piper asked as they decorated the second round of posters.

They'd already made a whole stack a few days ago, but they'd quickly discovered that they'd need many more. Piper, Nathalia, and Nico were all in one of the many parks New Rome had dedicated to the citizens sitting at the picnic tables decorating many more posters that said _Nathalia For President: Getting_ _You Your Voice_.

Thankfully, the wind had nothing to show, so the papers weren't flying all around in the breeze. The clouds gave nothing either as the hot sun was beating down on their backs with no mercy. Apparently the weather gave no heed to the season's change.

"Of course it's not too much black, we're showing people that they can have their voice. Black is a neutral color, Piper," Thalia responded as if she had asked a silly question. "Don't you agree, Nico?"

Nico looked up from the grass, where he had been sleeping instead of helping since he had said decorating posters was for girls and he was _very_ manly. Piper just thought he was too lazy. "Oh yeah, sure. Black is cool. I'm good with black."

Piper scoffed as she dabbed some black glitter on a silver outline of the letter 'T'. "You're only agreeing because your favorite color is black, not because you think it's good for the posters," she contradicted as Nico flopped back into the grass' safety. "Are you sure, Thalia?"

"Absolutely. These posters will stand out more than anyone else's. When we decorate your posters, you can decide. But for now it is my decision," Thalia stated, taking her poster and adding it to the pile.

Piper stopped applying black glitter. "My posters?"

Thalia laughed and pulled out a fresh white sheet of poster board out. "So you know how that poster advertising to run for student body president said at the bottom that some restrictions may apply?" she said in a casual voice.

"Yeah," Piper said, her full attention on Thalia who wasn't even looking at Piper, instead focusing on her new poster to decorate.

"Well, I talked to the counselor and he said that because I'm a new student, I needed someone who'd been at this school a long time to sponsor me. But the sponsor also has to contribute to the school more than two ways. And I figured, since you're already in Mock Trial and Speech you only need one more thing, whereas Nico needs more. It was easy to add one activity to your résumé," Thalia said pleasantly.

Piper narrowed her eyes, suspicious of Thalia's attitude. "Thalia, what did you sign me up for?" she asked in a dangerous voice.

By now, even Nico had sat up from the grass to tune into what Thalia had to say. Thalia closed the cap on the glue she had been using and wiped her hands on her jeans. "Just to run for Homecoming Queen. Can you believe that even counts as an activity?"

It took a moment for it to sink in, but when it did, Piper had a conniption. "What!? You signed me up for _Homecoming Queen_? There wasn't anything better? Are you serious?"

Thalia shrugged and sprinkled some black glitter. "Jeez, calm down there, Piper. It's just Homecoming Queen, not the end of the world. Besides, it'll be good for you."

"How, exactly, will it be good for me? That's like saying it will be good for you!" Piper retorted, too upset to even try to decorate anymore of her half-finished poster. She couldn't believe the nerve of Thalia! Didn't even ask permission!

Piper's mind flitted back to the letter she had received from Jason in the desk this morning when he had talked about getting back at his Thalia for setting him up on the date with Perry with setting her up with a guy of her own. She decided that she would definitely find a way to get back at Nathalia and tell Jason about it.

Problem was, she'd have to explain this whole creepy mirror world to him eventually and Piper didn't exactly know how to break the news to him and still make him believe her. She'd work on those plans tonight.

"Because, Piper," Thalia said, waving around the silver marker, "You've got the looks, the talent, and the spirit to get anything. It's about time you showed the world what you're about, you've got a bright future in front of you, unlike some people. No offense, Nico."

Nico gave her a thumbs up without even lifting his head. "Thanks for the support," he dully said, his voice muffled.

Thalia laughed. "I'm just kidding, Nico. I'm sure you'll find something. But anyways, Piper. We can make this work. I promise you won't be embarrassed in front of an entire crowd of people. And once you talk at my rally..."

"Wait, I have to give a speech at your rally?" Piper asked in an exasperated voice. "Anything else you'd like to tell me that you've incidentally forgotten about?"

Thalia finished her poster and took over Piper's. "No, I don't think so. But I do realize that I should've asked your permission first if it was okay for you to do all this. But if it helps, I asked your dad in sixth period gym class."

Piper crossed her arms. "And Percy agreed to this? Are you even sure he understood and comprehended what you were asking?"

"It's the thought that counts!"

"For presents and sympathy for people! Not asking permission!" Piper exclaimed with her hands, nearly knocking over a bottle of glitter.

Thalia gave her an apologetic look. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. If you'd like, we'll find something else for you to do, but on one condition," she tried, adding Piper's poster to the stack of finished ones.

"This is so unfair!" Piper complained, raising her eyebrows. "But shoot."

Thalia smiled in satisfaction. "We'll ask your mom what she thinks first. If she says you should do it, then you have to with no fight. Deal?"

Seeing no immediate way out of this and putting an enormous amount of trust into Annabeth, Piper nodded her head. "Deal."

* * *

"It just looks so...normal. I don't like it," Percy proclaimed as he stared at the food with no blue dye in it whatsoever.

It was lunch time, and since the posters had just been finished in the park about fifteen minutes ago, Piper had asked Annabeth if it was okay to invite Thalia and Nico over for lunch. Piper was pretty sure Annabeth had just been happy that Piper was inviting friends over for lunch and automatically accepted. But Piper hadn't been preparing for the Jackson household to be out of blue food dye.

Thalia dipped a piece of her chicken strip in barbeque sauce and gave Piper a questioning look and mouthed, "_What is he talking about_?"

Piper had to bite back a smile. Never having friends over had never brought up the need to explain the blue food that she'd grown up with. Of course, Piper herself couldn't even properly explain it. "_Later,_" Piper mouthed back.

"Sweetie, change is okay once in a while. Besides, not having blue food for one meal will not kill you. I will run to the grocery store after I get the dishes done, I promise," Annabeth told Percy in a nice voice, though it sounded like her patience was running out. Annabeth had always hated wasting food.

Besides, Annabeth was using the 'change is okay' line to refer to Piper and she just knew it. Unfortunately, right as Piper had entered the house, Thalia had immediately asked Annabeth what she thought of Piper running for Homecoming Queen. Annabeth, the traitor, had thought that it would be a good thing for Piper to do to be more involved.

Thalia got her victory dance.

Percy stuck a fork in his yellow mashed potatoes and grumbled something to himself that Piper couldn't quite identify.

Annabeth put her hands on her hips. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Percy said, shoveling a forkful into his mouth and smiling. "Fee?"

And then Annabeth started scolding him about eating with his mouth full in the presence of Piper's friends. Piper absentmindedly thought about what it was like in other people's homes, where their guardians weren't in their mid-thirties and they were connected by an actual bloodline. Piper wondered about how different her life would be if she lived with her real dad in California or what it would be like if she lived with both her biological mother and father. Piper didn't even know who her real mother was or what she did for a living.

Nico gave Piper a look like what's-wrong-with-your-family, while Thalia stated her opinion out loud. "This place is awesome! So much better than where I live," she said, pushing her empty plate in front of her and taking a drink of water.

Piper saw her chance to find out more about Nathalia's life and connect it with Jason's and she took it. "What's is like where you live? Where _do_ you even live?"

Thalia twisted her mouth and waved her glass dangerously as she spoke, the water slightly splashing over the edge. "Oh, at that stupid trail ride thing for tourists. It's about a thirty minute drive into the middle of nowhere but you'd be surprised about how much business we get. I suppose you've heard of it though," Thalia said in assumption.

"It sounds familiar," Piper agreed, remembering some advertisements for it, especially during the summertime when tourists flocked into the city of New Rome to see the historic museums and landmarks.

Nico looked up in surprise. "I didn't know you lived at the trail ride! That's like really close to one of my favorite graveyards!"

Piper nearly choked on her water that she had unfortunately chosen to take a drink of at the wrong moment. "You have a _favorite graveyard_?"

"Hey, it's not my fault that my dad owns a funeral home!" Nico mumbled, sinking down into the kitchen chair. "Anyways, continue on with your life story, Thals."

Thalia glared at Nico. "You may call me Nathalia or Thalia. Nothing else. And it's not my life story! And I might add, at least I have a life," she said in victory.

Piper decided to intervene before they started in on dissing each other again. "Okay, okay, guys. Enough. We're all friends here."

"Thanks, 'cause I'm not sure I could come up with a good comeback to that," Nico said graciously. "Back to Thalia's secret life now. I don't want to be not being lazy for nothing."

Piper couldn't help but agree with him, but for completely different reasons. She didn't know why Nico was so interested, but she couldn't wait to hear what Thalia had to say.

She noticed that they'd been so busy arguing and talking that Percy and Annabeth had already left the kitchen to more than likely go to the grocery store. The dishes were left undone, meaning Piper was to do them before she got back. Though she wanted her full attention on Thalia, it was better to divide her attention than suffer Annabeth's disappointment.

Piper excused herself from the table before Thalia started. "I have to to the dishes, but go on ahead," she said, turning on the sink and opening the empty dishwasher.

"Guys, I really don't know what to tell you. I don't like to talk about my boring life there," Thalia said, putting her bare plate in the sink that Piper was working on.

"Then can you take us there?" Piper said without thinking. It would be better than an explanation, and maybe...No, Piper couldn't get her hopes up that she'd meet the 2013 Jason.

Thalia laughed and sat on the counter, an action that Piper hoped she didn't repeat while Annabeth was home. She hated it when people sat on anything but what was designated to be sat on. "Why are you guys so curious about my life? I mean, honestly!"

"Because you're the new girl that no one knows anything about," Nico said, sprawling out on the kitchen floor and staring at the ceiling. "We already know that I'm the kid who does nothing but help my dad with dead people and play Mythomagic when I get home. And Piper is that quiet girl who lives with two people who aren't her real parents and used to get bullied by Drew. But what about you, Nathalia?"

Thalia grabbed the dirty dish rag from the sink and threw it at Nico. "That's for me to know and you to not find out!"

Nico threw the dish rag back at Nathalia but missed, hitting Piper instead. "Guys! If Annabeth saw you..." she warned, but Nico was already coming back with his response to Thalia.

"What, do you have a secret life? Are you like some rock star in disguise? Please don't tell me you're Hannah Montana," Nico teased. Piper sighed and added another plate to the dishwasher rack.

Thalia crossed her arms dangerously and looked over to Piper. "Piper, a little help here?"

Piper struggled to get the dishwasher lid to close and thankfully succeeded. She looked over to the both of her best friends. "Nico, if she doesn't want to talk about her life at home then that's her decision, not ours. We are patient because we're her friends and we will wait for when she is ready, okay?" she said calmly, though more to herself than to Nico. In truth, she was a little disappointed that Thalia hadn't shared anything.

Nico rolled his brown eyes and mumbled something about 'girls' before rolling over onto his side. "Hey, what time is it anyway?"

Piper looked over to the stove clock. "Almost a quarter after one. Why?"

"Just wondering. Do you want to head over to the funeral home? My dad wants me to do some chores before tomorrow and the help would be appreciated. We can hang out and maybe go to the movies afterward if you want," Nico suggested, using the table to pull himself up.

Thalia jumped off the counter. "Sure, I'm up for it. As long as we see that new horror movie that came out last Friday. What about you, Piper?"

Piper shook her head and threw the dish rag in the dirty bag. "No, I think I'll pass. I've got some things to do today. You guys have fun," Piper declined.

"Okay...Are you sure?" Thalia asked uncertainly as they slowly walked to the door together.

Piper smiled reassuringly as she opened the door and walked her two best friends to the sidewalk where Thalia's black Suburban was parked. "Yes, I have to go to the library while they're open. You know how odd the hours are since they started reconstruction," she explained as Thalia climbed into the driver's seat and Nico into the passenger.

"Okay, fine. I suppose your parents would rather you hang out at the library than a funeral home anyway. They might tell you that you made the wrong friends!" Thalia said with a smirk as she closed the door and started the vehicle.

Her loud music could be heard from outside as she and Nico drove away with the windows down. Piper could only imagine what the elders thought about her new friends. But Piper couldn't help it and she liked her friends for who they were.

Piper thought about walking to the library from her house since it wasn't that far, but then decided against it since she didn't know what all she'd be bringing back. She dug her keys out of her pocket and got into her car, which she'd thankfully parked out front instead of by the back garage.

The drive to the library was short, but Piper knew the search around the construction would make up for the time saved. She had to admit, the new library looked nice, with many glass windows and airy rooms, but it still had a lot of work to be done on it.

However, the forklifts and machinery was left abandoned on the weekend days, so Piper had nothing to worry about except for what she might find. One of the librarians was sleepily sitting at the oblong desk at the end of the first floor, and Piper decided to consult her first since she didn't know where to even start.

"Sir?" Piper said to get the librarian's attention. He had light blonde hair and looked to be very young, maybe even still a teenager. Piper hadn't ever seen him before, so she thought that he could possibly be going to the college and got a job here.

He rubbed his grey eyes apologetically and snapped to attention. "I'm sorry, it's been a long day. But I suppose that's no excuse for slacking on the job. What can I help you with?" he asked.

Piper straightened her posture and smiled in a friendly way. "Oh, I was just hoping to see if you had any information on the history of New Rome and maybe some information on the residents around the late 1930's and early 1940's?"

"You, my dear, have incidentally come to the history geek of the library!" he said, his eyes lighting up as he recognized the subject. "I know just where to look," he said, leading her up the first set of stairs to the left.

Piper giggled without thinking. She couldn't believe herself. She giggled like a little girl!

"I'm Malcolm, by the way," the boy said over his shoulder as they climbed the carpeted staircase. That moment of not watching what he was doing caused him to trip over the next stair.

Piper laughed at his clumsiness, but not in a mean way. "Piper. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? You don't look very old," Piper asked Malcolm.

Malcolm reached the top of the stairs before responding this time. "I am of nineteen years of age," he said in a formal voice. "And you?"

"Seventeen. But I'll be eighteen in February, if that makes a difference," Piper said, giggling at his dorkiness.

Malcolm started to search through the bookcases and Rubbermaid boxes stacked on the shelves for the information that Piper had requested. They made small talk, learning more about each other as they did.

He was a college kid, as Piper had guessed. He hoped to major in history and maybe work as a professor if he couldn't find a job in a museum. Malcolm liked to learn and watch the stars because they held so much history that was yet to be discovered. His favorite color was orange because it was the color of his dad's favorite t-shirt before he died in Afghanistan.

Malcolm was a nice boy with a bright future, Piper decided. He wasn't half bad looking, and his square glasses actually looked cute on him. Annabeth would definitely approve of Malcolm.

But what was Piper thinking? She was not supposed to be thinking of dating _Malcolm_. She was supposed to be focused on _Jason_ and finding about his life.

"Ah, here it is, Miss Piper," Malcolm said, handing Piper a few papers and sitting across the table from her.

Piper skimmed it over, finding pictures of New Rome taken in 1939 and notable leaders of the town. It had a few articles about events, including the dance she was sure Jason had attended with Perry. Then there was the list of stores at the time, and Piper almost immediately found the grocery store.

She laid her fingernail on it and pointed it out to Malcolm. "Do you have anymore information on this particular shop? Like the workers?"

He studied it for a moment. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. "Are you looking for someone in particular?"

"Well, just the sister of the person I'm looking for. Thalia Grace was her name, but I'm actually looking for information on Jason Grace who was her brother. Anything on either of them?" Piper responded in a hopeful voice.

Malcolm rose from his seat and searched through a few boxes. "Jason Grace. I know I've heard of it before. Hmm, what _did_ he do? Do you know anything that might help me?"

Piper thought for a moment, studying the scratches in the table. She was half tempted to show him the letters that Jason had sent her that she'd tucked into her purse just in case, but decided that it would be a little awkward to try to explain why they were addressed to her. Piper decided to go with what she knew at the present time from Nathalia.

"Well, my friend Nathalia's great great aunt has the name of Thalia Grace, but I'm not sure it's the same Thalia Grace I'm looking for. She said that her family owns the trail riding place around here...I honestly can't think of the proper name though," Piper shared, hoping Nathalia wouldn't ever find out that she'd told anyone else about her family.

But then again, it would be so unlike Nathalia to make a trip to the library.

It worked. Malcolm snapped his fingers in happiness and walked to a cabinet in the middle of the second row. "Saving Grace Trail! Thank you, Piper!" he said, pulling out a few more papers and slapping them on the table.

Piper read them hungrily, excited at the presentation of Jason's life. But as she read it, her excitement died down. It was just a paper advertising the trail ride to tourists and residents, describing the benefits and charges. From the looks of it, this was the grand opening.

"Is this all?" Piper asked in disappointment, pushing the paper back towards Malcolm, who had returned to his seat across from her.

He nervously ran a hand through his light blonde hair. "I'm afraid so. I do know that this was printed in the year 1946, which was the year that Saving Grace was founded by Jason Grace and his wife."

"Who was his wife?" Piper asked without even thinking. She hoped she didn't sound too eager or jealous. She almost didn't know if she could bear to know who he married.

"I don't know that," Malcolm said with regret. "My best advice would be to go to the courthouse. They have all the obituaries and records that I think you'll need," he told her. "Can I ask you why you're so interested in Jason Grace's life story?"

Piper bit her lip, her hand subconciously covering her purse. Jason was _her_ secret. "It's nothing, really. Just curious," she said, though Malcolm didn't look too convinced. "Can I get copies of all these?" Piper suggested to change the subject.

Malcolm happily agreed and quickly did so. After the warm copies were tucked into Piper's purse beside the letters, she headed down the stairs with Malcolm to check out a book he had recommended to her about life in the late 1930's.

She handed him her library card back at the desk and he scanned the book out of the system. "Thank you for all your help, Malcolm. I appreciated it, you're very intelligent," Piper thanked.

Malcolm blushed. "It was no problem, really. I'd love to help you anytime," he said in a flustered voice. "You're really pretty!" he blurted, then blushed an even deeper color.

Piper held her breath. "You're so kind," she said, but mostly because she had not an idea of how to properly respond.

"I'm sorry. I just made things all awkward. But I couldn't help it. You're really nice and have a great personality and you're easy to talk to and you listen to me," Malcolm said before Piper could talk anymore.

He nervously adjusted his glasses while Piper felt frozen to the tile floor. "Babbling. Sorry. Truth is, I really want to go out with you sometime."

* * *

**So much dialogue in this chapter! I hope it's not too much, but I couldn't not keep it out and wait for the next chapter in Piper's world because I just feel like this story is not doing anything! I don't know if it's just me as the author, or if you guys are noticing it too. But I can promise some things are going to happen that will either make you hate me or love me!**

**Anyway, if you haven't heard, I was recently in a car wreck after my vacation got interrupted (I was having a great time up until then), and now I have a leg broken in 6 different places and a few other minor injuries. But I am okay, thank the lord! And I am healing very nicely. **

**My overbearing worried little sister went back to her home so I am no longer under her supervision, which means I can write all I want without her yelling at me! What else am I going to do without putting too much strain on my leg?**

**Moving on, thank you for making this story reach 125 reviews! Congratulations to Stormfire76 for being the 125th reviewer! I appreciate every review you guys give me even though I don't ask for them!**


	10. Dancing Dreams

**September 1939**

It was one of those days. One of those days where Jason was bored out of his mind and had things to do but no motivation.

He could hear Thalia talking back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the radio during one of the fireside chats in the living room, but he didn't pay much attention. He'd hear all about what the president had to say at dinner, including Thalia's opinion on what he should do.

He was sitting at his desk, attempting to write another letter to Piper but mostly staring off into space. Jason really liked Piper and all, but he felt like they had come to a halt, stuck in their time barrier between each other.

Her last letter had been simple but heartbreaking and sweet at the same time.

_Dearest Jason,_

_ I have much to tell you, but not enough information to make it clear. I'm sure when the time comes I'll be able to explain, but that will have to wait until my appointment at the courthouse tomorrow. _

_ I'm sure this is all confusing, and its past time I confess. You see, I've been investigating your life and all that you did in it. But it's been hard since I decided to go to the library first and they are currently under reconstruction. They didn't have much, just a few articles with your name in it, but I was directed to the courthouse to get more information on you. I hope this doesn't come across as me being a stalker!_

_ Speaking of the library, the librarian who helped me was quite something. He was nice, I'll admit, and intelligent, but I couldn't be what he wanted me to be. See, he asked me out. And I just couldn't bring myself to accept without thinking of betraying you. So I told him that I was currently kind of with another guy, but I'd love to go as friends. _

_ And then, my friend Nat, who I told you before who was running for Student Body President, decided to sign me up so I could be her sponsor or something. And guess what that particular event is? Homecoming Queen! _

_ I was pretty upset, but Annabeth told me that we're going dress shopping tomorrow after my appointment with the courthouse whether I like it or not. I can't believe that my own mother didn't take my side! _

_ Anyways, I wish you were in my time. It would make it a lot easier if you could be my date to the Homecoming Dance that I have to attend, though the winning Queen will be announced after the football game. I'd love to dance with you..._

_ Love, _

_Piper_

Jason smiled at the thought of dancing with Piper. He imagined how beautiful she'd look in a nice dress with a crown atop her head. She would definitely win. Who would vote for anyone else? Piper was kind and sweet and beautiful. No one else could compare.

He also felt a little jealousy for that nitwit librarian who helped Piper. It was so unfair that he could be there for her and ask her out on dates but Jason couldn't. If it wasn't for Jason, Piper would've probably taken his offer. And then she would take him to the Homecoming Dance and they'd dance the perfect night away...

_Enough, Jason_, he thought to himself as he laid his head on the desktop. He vaguely thought about putting the drawer he'd taken out and put on his bed back into its place in the desk since he was obviously not going to be putting a letter into the crack anytime soon.

Head still on the desk, Jason started to fidget with a broken blade out of his old pocketknife he'd broken last week. Only half awake, he pressed the blade into the mahogany wood, making the letter P. He added an I, then another P, then an E, and lastly an R.

Piper.

Satisfied, Jason closed his eyes with a smile, only vaguely aware that the desk seemed to be carving the name Jason right over top.

But as soon as Jason tried to come to his senses and figure out the reason behind it, he felt himself being pulled into darkness with no escape. Jason flailed his arms, but he was spinning faster than ever. He couldn't see straight and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

He felt delusional as it all stopped, but he wasn't certain that where he'd landed was any better. He was in his room, but everything was waving around and changing into some unfamiliar place with red paint on the walls and weird objects in it. The only thing constant was was his desk, which wasn't moving or changing form at all.

Jason ran to it's safety, thinking that it would be a great help to his spinning head. The rest of the room was making him dizzy.

But just as he touched the smooth wood, another hand landed on top of his. It was darker in skin tone, but delicate and feminine with chipped green fingernails.

Jason pulled back with a gasp, as did the owner of the other pair of hands. He looked to the source, but was immediately struck with another dizzy streak in his mind as he tried to focus on the blurry human body beside him.

"Are you...Jason?" the other asked in a hesitant voice, stepping a little closer to him.

Jason rubbed his eyes and tried to pinch himself halfheartedly. It did nothing to clear the figure in front of him. "I am. Who are you?" he asked, though he was starting to connect the dots. This couldn't be her. It wasn't possible.

She gasped, and then tightly grasped his hands. "Jason, I'm Piper. How is this happening?"

Piper. It couldn't be real. She couldn't be actually here, it was impossible. Time separated them by strict manners, and even the people of 2013 couldn't time travel. A dream, that's what this was. It had to be, there wasn't any other way.

But then again, Jason didn't think that he could ever dream up the odd objects flashing between the red room and his. What was that weird screen with letters attached on a different piece? Was that the time on that weird box?

"It's not possible. This is just a dream," Jason told her, but he felt like he was more convincing himself. He didn't want to believe it was actually happening just to get his hopes crushed. But her hands were just so soft and they fit right into his...

She pulled her hands away from his, and they faded into the blurriness of her body. "If this was a dream, I'd wake up as soon as I did this," she said. And barely before Jason could process her words, Piper's hands grasped his face and she kissed him.

It was a kiss full of longing. Jason felt her need for something true, for something to be right, so he poured her passion back. She felt solid and clear when he kissed her, like nothing was missing at all. Her lips were soft, he noticed.

After a few blissful moments they pulled away. Jason almost immediately felt empty as her presence left.

Her figure was blurry again, but Jason could tell she was smiling. "Tell me if I have this right, okay? You have blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. You're really tall, actually. Like six two or three? And you have this tiny little scar on your lip."

Jason's hand flew up to his scar as she said it. "Straight on, but how can I not see you? I want to see you," he told her in a pleading voice, taking her hands back in his.

Piper looked away. "Jason, I'm not sure that it's a good idea. You know how I told you that I was still trying to figure things out? If something goes wrong...I don't want to find out what will happen. I want you to understand," she calmly answered, but Jason could sense the pain in her voice.

"Please," Jason begged. He didn't understand and quite frankly, he didn't care to understand. All he wanted was to see Piper without the mugginess.

She sighed. "Okay. You got me," she said in a resigned voice. "I suppose I've already told you that I'm half Cherokee, so there's my skin tone. I've got, uh, black hair. I don't really know what color- they're brown. My eyes are brown," she finished.

As she talked, her facial features cleared up and she wasn't a blurry figure anymore. Jason thought she was beautiful, but it didn't feel right. Something was wrong and missing. "You're not telling me the truth," Jason accused.

"I c-can't," Piper stumbled, apparently surprised that Jason figured it out. "Can we just enjoy each other while we're here? This might not ever happen again."

Jason wasn't satisfied, but agreed that Piper had a point. "Is the red room yours?" he asked, looking around to the ever changing room between his and the red.

Piper smiled. "Yes. Does it seem foreign?" she asked, pulling her hands away from Jason's and gesturing to the odd object on the bed with the alphabet board. "This is a computer. Well, actually it's a laptop, but we won't get into the specifics. That over there by my bed is a digital alarm clock," she said, pointing to the box Jason had spotted earlier.

"What's that?" Jason asked, looking over to an even tinier box that kept occasionally popping up on his desk. His mind was beginning to feel dizzy again, but this time it was from all the new information he was trying to take in and understand at the same time.

Piper blushed and tried to pick it up, but it just evaporated through her fingers. "I guess we're the only things solid in dream land. But it's a cell phone. Kind of like a telephone, but it's portable and I can take it anywhere with me," she explained.

Jason wished he could examine everything in depth, but he supposed he was just lucky enough to have this time with Piper. And he'd take that over anything.

"Were you taking a sleeping on your desk too?" Piper asked, smirking as she leaned on the desk. "Because in my time, it's like midnight. I fell asleep. And I figure that your time is exactly a day behind mine?"

Jason shook his head. "No, we must be only twelve hours behind you. It's about noon there," he told her. "Which would make sense because when one of us sends a letter at night, the next receives it in the morning."

Piper nodded her head in comprehension and started to examine the wood on the top of the desk. "I didn't think of that, I guess. Too much on my mind...How's Perry?" she asked with sudden interest.

"Uh, she's doing well, I suppose. She asked me to go over to her house for dinner today, but that's all I've heard. Why?" Jason asked, sitting next to her on top of the mahogany desk. He found that if he focused only on Piper and the desk, the rest of the room didn't seem so dizzy.

She shrugged. "I thought that as long as I was going to the courthouse, I might as well get her life story too. Except, I don't know her last name..."

"Falling Dove," Jason finished for her. "I asked Perry a few days ago in school. Though I don't know if her records will have that or Stoll, which is the last name of her caretakers as of now. But that's assuming she doesn't, you know-"

"Get married?" Piper suggested, her eyes holding some type of emotion that Jason couldn't quite understand. "In that case, should I look for a Percilla Grace?" she said with a forced tone.

It took a few seconds, but then Jason comprehended her attitude. Piper was _jealous_. "Oh, Piper! Don't you worry your pretty face, I won't be marrying Perry. It's ridiculous that you'd even suggest that!" Jason reassured her.

"Then who, Jason?" Piper snapped, but then covered her mouth in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. But you marry someone! Malcolm gave me a paper announcing the grand opening of your...I can't tell you that, I don't think. I just want to know who you marry!"

"Have you ever thought it might be you?" Jason asked, smiling at her.

But then, unexpectedly, Piper backed away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jase. I'd, like, love to marry you and all, but dude! I'm only seventeen. Maybe give it a few years...you know, assuming that was actually possible to marry a guy from like seventy years ago."

Jason tilted his head in confusion. "What's so odd about your age? Why would you have to wait a few years?"

Piper laughed and hit her head for some reason. "Oh, I forgot it was normal to get married young! Let me explain. In my time, not a lot of people get married until they're in their twenties or so. We go to college and get jobs, ya know? Some people never do get married, they say they're happier just being together as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"That seems a little off, but I'll buy it," Jason said, his head swarming from the new bit of information. "But we could get married. Wait, let _me_ explain this time!" Jason said in response to Piper's downward look.

Jason grabbed her hand. "You didn't see the name, right? What if you somehow came to my time and stayed there? Your future isn't defined yet because it hasn't already happen. Mine is, but we just don't know how yet. You could find the way to come to 1939! If I had to bet on it, it'd be through this desk since it's the only thing that connects our two times," he told her with a hopeful smile.

Piper laughed. "You're so optimistic. You'll be a wonderful soldier for the United States, I just know it. Speaking of, how are things there?"

"According to Thalia, who is dedicated to her politics and world news, the U.S. is more focused on staying neutral now. Not much has happened that will affect our country, though Thalia says there are rumors of us supplying other countries as long as they pay in cash and get the supplies themselves. When will I have to leave? Can I ask when we actually do enter the war?" Jason asked.

Piper focused on her green fingernails and didn't look up at him. "I don't think I'm supposed to tell you, but the United States enters after the attack on Pearl Harbor-"

"There's going to be an attack on Pearl Harbor?" Jason interrupted, but saw the look on Piper's face. "Oh, sorry. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

She relaxed her shoulders a little. "Please don't warn anyone, I don't know how drastically things could change. I know people die and things get really bad, but I'm just afraid that any interference would make it worse. Maybe it could be better too, but I just don't want to take the chance. We could really mess things up," Piper said in a worried voice.

Jason squeezed her hand, thinking that he'd be about twenty when that happened. "You have my word. Now, tell me about this Homecoming Queen business you're doing," he said in a joking tone.

"Oh, don't remind me! It's going to be so awful!" Piper wailed. "Can you just imagine it? I'll be all dressed up in a fancy sparkling dress in front of the _entire_ school! You realize that I'll have to walk on the football field after the game's done in _heels_? And I know Nat and Annabeth won't let me out of it!"

"And everyone will see how beautiful you are when they put the crown on your head," Jason said with a smile, pushing her hair aside for the pretend crown.

Piper blushed and pushed his hand away. "Anyone knows that someone more popular will win like Drew or Kayla. And what about you, anyways? Doesn't your old New Rome High have a running like that?"

"Well, not in the way yours does. We have the game, of course, but who wins King and Queen depends on who dances the most at the dance afterward. The most vibrant dancers get the crowns," Jason said, thinking of the previous year's dance. It had been such a spirited one that the judges could barely narrow it down.

"I wish ours was determined that way," Piper grumbled, then looked up in surprise. "N-not like I want to win it! It doesn't matter to me whether I lose or win, I'd rather not compete at all!"

Jason took the both of her hands and jumped off the desk. "Suppose you do win, and you have to dance with the Homecoming King, but you don't know how," he suggested.

Piper stepped off and stood in front of Jason, pulling away her hands and wrapping them around his neck. "Supposing I'd win, I'd hopelessly wait for the right guy to come and show me how," she answered.

"But, supposing you won, what if the right guy had already taught you how to dance?" Jason asked again, reversing on what he said earlier.

Piper leaned in closer. "Then I don't suppose I'd have a problem, would I?" she whispered as they started to sway to the nonexistent music in the ever-changing room.

And at that moment, nothing else mattered to Jason. Not the war, not the fast ending Depression, not school, not even Perry. Because here, wrapped in his arms was the most wonderful girl that would ever be born on Earth. The one that listened to his fears and understood that he was different. The one that would always be there for him.

Their lips connected again like puzzle pieces that had finally found each other, and Jason knew that there was no way this could be a dream or be replicated by any other woman. He would find a way to stay with Piper, she had to be his. Anything else would be wrong.

_"Piper! Wake up! God, you sleep like a dead person!"_ someone yelled through the void. They both jumped at the distraction. Jason felt anger rise in his chest at his sister. Why did Thalia have to ruin everything? Why couldn't she just save her ranting until he woke up?

But then he calmed a little and realized that she had called to _Piper_. Why in the world would Thalia be calling to Piper? She didn't even know of her existence!

Piper blushed and quickly kissed Jason again. "I'm sorry, I forgot about Nathalia sleeping over at my house. I told her I'd be right back to watch the rest of the movie but I fell asleep!" she ranted. "But it was worth it," Piper added.

"Wait, that sounded like _my_ sister. Nathalia? Who's Nathalia? It sounds like a weirder version of Thalia!" Jason exclaimed in confusion. "What's going on? I don't understand," he said in exasperation, running a empty hand through his blonde hair.

_"Hello? Earth to Piper!"_ the voice urged, echoing through the room.

Piper gave him a look of pity and longing, but she just hugged him again. "I'm so sorry, Jason. It's just not the right time. I have to go, I'll explain everything later!"

"What if this never happens again?" Jason pressed, desperate not to lose her. This couldn't be happening. Not just after all this.

She gave him a sad smile and kissed him sweetly again. "I love you, Jason," she whispered, pulling away and fading into the mist.

"Piper! No! I love you, please stay! I'm begging you!" Jason screamed, falling into the swirling mass and feeling the dizziness take over again. He struggled with all his might to hold onto something, but everything just fell through his fingers. He was being pulled back into 1939 whether he like it or not, time had given its limit.

He woke with a gasp on the desk, still begging her to stay through mumbles. "_Please_. I love you," he breathed out for one last time, finding the old knife blade in his hand.

He desperately pulled his head up and studied the carving he'd made out of Piper's name. Just as he'd expected, his name was written over top of Piper's so that they evenly intertwined on each other.

Jason hadn't been dreaming after all.

"Jason, are you okay?" an identical voice to the one that took Piper away said from the door. He didn't understand all that at the moment, but quite frankly, he was still stressed out over the thought of losing Piper.

He looked over to his sister, the ache in his heart still fresh. "Fine. I'm fine," he lied. And lying didn't help take away the pain of losing her.

Thalia gave him a look that said she didn't quite believe him, but she left for her spot by the radio anyway. Jason clenched his fist and looked back to his desk. The paper was still blank, just as Jason had left it. He quickly reached for his pen and started to write.

Maybe the Nathalia girl could steal Piper away from his presence, but she couldn't stop him from writing her letters.

* * *

**Hello, my wonderful people! How are you? I hope you're good, because I'm in a amazing mood today! I just love writing this story so much, so I hope you love reading it! As for this chapter...isn't it so sweet? I was so excited to write this chapter for you, just because it seems so nice and innocent now when really...Eh, I'll save my secrets for later. **

**I guess it's high time I've done one of these lovely things; Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, but I do take ownership of the plot!**

**Thank you so so much for all your reviews, follows, and favorites! Continue to be awesome during your life span!**


	11. Lying About Biographies

**September 2013**

Piper woke up screaming.

It had all gone wrong. Jason was an old man and he was dying. Nathalia hated her for what she had done to him, no matter how many times Piper tried to explain that she hadn't done anything, it was just what time had done. Her friends left her and Annabeth and Percy accused her of lying. Piper had been alone.

"Piper! Oh my god, you scared the hell out of me! What's going on?" Nathalia asked, shaking Piper out of it. Thalia had spent the night last night due to the fact that the school had given the students Monday and Tuesday off because of a teacher workshop.

Piper shivered against the chilly autumn air slightly breezing in through the open window in her room. She realized that the both of them had crashed on the floor last night during their session of talking and laughing after the movie they had watched in the living room. "Nothing, just a nightmare," Piper dismissed.

Thalia gave her questioning look, but still pushed the roughly arranged blankets to the side and stretched. "You wanna share?"

"The same way you want to share about your family back at your house," Piper said with a shrug, throwing her pillows back up on her bed. Annabeth walked by the door and asked if she was okay before shutting it and leaving the two of them alone again. They started to rearrange the room again in silence, the both of them either too tired or too caught up in their own thoughts.

Thalia sighed after a few minutes of gathering her things and sat on the bed next to Piper. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"What do you want to share?" Piper responded, actually surprised that Thalia was willing to tell her about her home at the tourist ride station.

Thalia rubbed her shattered phone screen on the fabric of her pajama shorts. "I guess there's really not all that much to tell, I just like to leave my home life at home. I've got two parents, a few grandparents, and a lot of horses. We've got money, but it doesn't buy happiness. Sometimes...sometimes I think my parents are ashamed of us," she slowly said, not really looking at Piper.

"Us?"

"Sorry, I guess I never mentioned my brother," Thalia said apologetically, and Piper's heart soared in excitement. She had a brother? Oh, this could fix everything!

But maybe it couldn't. Maybe Jason did have something right when he said that Piper belonged in the past. Perhaps Piper was destined to figure out how to get to Jason's time through the desk. "No, I don't think you have," Piper responded calmly.

Thalia snorted. "Wouldn't have a good reason to. He completely abandoned my family and I. He's about what? Nineteen now? He used to be the responsible one in our family, I was the wild child. My parents even had it written out that he was the one to get Saving Grace."

"What happened?" Piper asked in interest, trying to imagine a Jason who wasn't responsible and left his family behind. She couldn't picture it.

"Got mixed in with the wrong crowd. I think he had a little alcoholic problems at one point, but I don't know anymore. He partied excessively, came home late, fought with everybody...it wasn't the older brother I had grown up with and even envied. And even then, I don't think he was happy. I could see it in his eyes. I don't know what he was thinking. And then one day he just left. It doesn't seem like he's only been gone a little more than a year. But I guess he really was gone more than that, even if he was home," Thalia said, though it didn't feel to Piper like she was actually talking to her anymore.

Piper absorbed the information quietly, not really sure how this fit in with her drawing board of ideas. How could this modern Jason be anything like 1939 Jason? They had nothing in common. Piper's Jason would never do anything like that. He would've done what needed to be done to fix things and took responsibility for his actions in the correct way.

Thalia sighed and grabbed her bag of clothes at the foot of the bed and stood up. "I miss my brother. I just wish he could see how much he hurt everyone," she said in a sad voice, leaving Piper's room for the bathroom to change.

Piper just sat in a stunned silence at Thalia's unexpected revealing of some of her family. She'd always thought of Thalia as the rebel kid in her family, the one who did what she wanted when she wanted and could be irresponsible if she pleased. She looked up to an older brother who was everything to her and was seemingly perfect but also made her own path for herself.

And when her brother changed, she had to as well. And it broke her even if she didn't let anyone know that.

Because now she had to be the strong one. Thalia had to be responsible for Saving Grace without a choice. She had to maintain being who she was while being a totally different person at home.

That was when Piper knew without any doubt that Thalia could make it as Student Body President. Thalia had everything it took to be that person that could lead a school to a better tomorrow.

Jason would be so proud of her.

"Jason!" Piper gasped, her thoughts rapidly reeling to the night's events before the nightmare. She stumbled over to the desk, her fingers desperately reaching into the open drawer compartment to feel the familiar paper of Jason's letters.

She latched her fingers around it and pulled it out, taking a moment to breathe in the lingering smell of Jason on the paper before laying it delicately on the desk top.

Her heart swooned at the thought of Jason's arms on her waist, spinning elegantly on the misty room floor. His rough lips on hers and all the passion he put into it...

And the best part? Piper was almost completely sure that it hadn't been any sort of hallucination or dream. And she could make absolute certain of that by either this letter (assuming Jason mentioned something about their meeting) or asking him about it in her response letter.

She heard the bathroom door open, signaling Thalia's readiness and Piper's unpreparedness, and Piper dashed towards her dresser, wanting to avoid any questions about why she hadn't gotten dressed already. She tripped over the drawer that she had taken out of the desk last night on the way over.

"Ow! Stupid drawer!" Piper bitterly said, pushing it back into the 'mailbox' compartment where it belonged.

Piper threw her clothes on the floor with haste and shoved the new day ones on as quick as she could just as the door opened.

Thalia was dressed in jean shorts and a simple dark grey tank top, her usually up hair falling down the sides of her face in a kind of cute way. She dropped her gym bag full of clothes to the ground and looked at Piper in a questionable way. "Um, that's a, uh, interesting fashion statement."

For the first time, Piper actually looked down to her clothing choice for the day to find a floral print skirt with a plaid shirt that really didn't complement each other in any way. Piper blushed and pulled a pink cami from her dresser that matched much better.

"Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention," Piper said apologetically, gathering her dirty pajamas and tossing them into the hamper.

Thalia yawned and waved a lazy hand. "Oh, don't mind me. Wear what you want," she said, sitting on Piper's bed by the desk.

Piper pulled her hair into a ponytail using the small mirror by the door, not really even bothering to make it perfect. "If I was allowed to wear what I want, you guys would let me wear jeans and a t-shirt for Homecoming," Piper contradicted.

"Life's not fair," Thalia stated happily as Piper turned back to see her looking at her desk closely. "I really like this desk, by the way. It kind of looks like one I've seen in some old family pictures."

Piper's breath got caught in her throat as she tried to be as calm as possible. "Huh. Funny how that works, isn't it?" she tried to say steadily, but it sounded a little tight as she unnoticeably took the letter off the top and slid it behind her shirt.

"Yeah," Thalia agreed, pulling out her phone again. "Wow, it's already eleven o'clock. We must've really slept late. What time is that meeting of yours again?"

"One o'clock, but the receptionist on the phone said it was okay if I came a little earlier if I thought it would take until after four since that's when they close," Piper responded, glad that Thalia had changed subjects now.

Thalia didn't say anything, instead looking through her phone for a moment before groaning. "Ugh, they changed the date of the announcement of the Study Body President from Friday the 13 to Sunday the 15 to help kick off Homecoming Week. I don't think I can wait another day, Piper!" she complained, kicking back and laying on Piper's bed.

Piper looked at the calendar on her wall, brightly decorated with pictures of sunsets from around the world. "It's only five days away, Thalia. Maybe while I'm at the courthouse, you can have Annabeth help you with your speech. It would be a very profitable way to spend the day off from school, Annabeth is a great help," Piper suggested, trying not to think about the fact that a week from today she'd be at a pep rally presenting herself as a nominee to the school.

"I might just do that," Thalia agreed, sitting up again and throwing her phone on top of her bag. "Did your mom already make some of her amazing food? 'Cause I'm hungry."

Piper opened the door and waved a sarcastic hand through it. "Well then let's go! I'm sure it was done ages ago since we slept in so late. Annabeth probably made it before Percy left to coach the swim practice this morning," she said as they started to walk down the hall.

Thalia snorted. "Must suck to be on the swim team. Going to practice on a day off from school. Losers! I would skip if it came down to that," she said.

Piper rolled her eyes and opened the oven door once they were in the bright kitchen to find a platter full of blue pancakes and blue eggs, still warm from this morning. "Aren't you going to be in basketball and track? You do know you'll have to go on days off then, right?"

"That's different," Thalia said, pulling a pancake off the platter without even getting a plate and tearing it off in pieces and eating it. "Basketball and track are for awesome people who like to actually do real sports. Swimming, cheer leading, and volleyball are not sports."

Piper followed Thalia's lead and took her own pancake by hand. "Okay, I'll agree with you on the cheer leading just because Drew's in it and I don't like her, but the other two are so sports! I even used to be in volleyball!" Piper defended.

Thalia laughed and popped another piece of blue pancake in her mouth. "_You_ used to be in volleyball? For some reason, I find that hard to imagine! Oh my god, just thinking of it makes me laugh!"

"Oh, shut up, Nathalia," Piper giggled, throwing a full pancake at her head.

Thalia, of course, responded with her own pancake, which turned into a full-out food fight. The two of them tossed both the pancakes and eggs all over the kitchen back and forth at each other. Soon there was a nice mess for them to clean up, which they did so between laughs and picking at each other jokingly.

Once that pretend best friend fight was over, both of them collapsed back onto the newly shining kitchen chairs. Piper looked at the time on the microwave clock with a sigh. "I have to go soon. Are you staying here with Annabeth or are you going to pull Nico out from the dungeon he calls his room for a while?"

"Staying here. I really don't want to deal with a grumpy Nico on our day off from school. Besides, I want to practice my presidential speech with her like you said," Thalia responded, picking at the cracks in her phone screen.

Piper slapped her hand away from her phone. "Stop that. You'll only make it worse," she reprimanded, standing up from the chair and picking her purse up from the table. "I think Annabeth is out back working on changing it to fit a more autumn theme, though I don't know how much help that'll do since it's still in the hundreds."

Thalia stood up too, though her direction was facing back towards Piper's room where her folder was. "I won't be interrupting anything, will I?"

"No, Annabeth won't mind," Piper said, pulling out her car keys and heading towards the door. "See you in a bit when you guys torture me into trying on fancy dresses!"

Thalia smirked and waved her off. "Can't wait!"

Piper closed the door and quickly got into her car, throwing her purse carelessly on the passenger seat and putting the car in drive. The small houses around Piper's street soon turned into the more grand intercity ones as Piper drove to the modern boxy courthouse. Like the library, it had been completely torn down and rebuilt in order to make the city look more up to date. Piper herself preferred the old buildings that had a history behind them, but she might have been a little biased by Jason's point of view interfering with hers.

The parking lot was actually pretty empty considering that it was lunch time, which was when most people of New Rome came in to get their cars licensed or whatever needed done. Piper put her car in one of the empty front ones by the building and walked in through the open slanted glass doors.

Inside, the floors were neatly tiled in a alternating pattern between black and grey to make one big hallway with a fountain in the middle. On both sides of the halls there was long counters with bold labels on the wall above.

Piper nervously went to the counters with the title Administration to find where she was supposed to go. The pleasant lady directed her towards an office to her right where a busy woman with light brown hair was talking on the phone and scrolling through her computer at the same time.

She knocked on the door and the woman waved her in as she got off the phone. The woman stood up and shook her hand. "Hello. I'm Julia Parker, vice president of the Information Directory. You called about the files on Jason Grace, is that correct?"

"Yes, I did. Nice to meet you, Julia. I'm Piper McLean. And I was also wondering if it would be possible to get Percilla Falling Dove's as well? Though her last name might not be correct if she got married," Piper asked, sitting down in the chair across from Julia.

Julia hit a button on her phone and called for someone to fetch those files for her and hung up. "I can do that. However, I'm going to need an official slip filled out if I am to give you either of these files," Julia informed her with a grave smile.

Piper dug into her purse, glad that she'd researched this on the internet beforehand and that she had teachers on her good side at school. "Here it is. I talked with my English and History teachers from the past and I got a good number of approving signatures," she said in a optimistic tone.

"May I ask what you're doing with this, Miss McLean?" Julia asked as she ran the permission slip through the scanning machine and placed it in a file cabinet next to her desk.

Piper shifted her leg position, realizing that she hadn't really thought this out. "Um...I'm writing a book! Yes, a biography about Jason Grace and his life here in New Rome," Piper smoothly lied. "You see, I'm actually best friends with one of his descendants."

"Interesting," Julia agreed as the door opened to reveal a flustered man a few folders. Julia thanked him and laid the folders on the desk. The phone rang, but she called for someone else to get it. "These are the copies since we can't give you the authentic ones. I'll need you to sign an agreement to keep privacy on these files since they do belong to the courthouse, but you may use whatever information you need for your biography."

"Agreed," Piper confirmed, nodding her head excitedly. "So, where is this paper I need to sign?"

* * *

Dress shopping went as Piper expected, which is to say, horrible. It took several hours that Piper would've much rather spent reading the courthouse files, but in the end the three of them found the perfect match. Piper even had to agree that it was a beautifully stunning dress.

It was now sitting in her closet, hanging on the door and ready to dance the night away on Homecoming night. Piper could only imagine what Prom was going to be like.

Finally, in Piper's moment of peace after Nathalia had gone back to her home and Piper had already eaten with Percy and Annabeth for supper, Piper was able to sit down at the desk and read about everything she didn't know.

She held the two folders in her hands, debating on which one to read first. She was curious as to how similar Perry's life was to hers, but she also wanted to know what would happen to Jason. After what felt like an eternity of self arguing, Piper threw Jason's on the bed to get rid of any temptation and opened Percilla Falling Dove's.

That was the first thing that surprised Piper. Percilla still had the same last name with the exception of it sometimes changing to Stoll. So that meant Percilla had never married, because it would've been highly unusual for a woman back then to keep her last name and still be married.

Piper read through the first few strips intently, finding almost nothing that she didn't already know. She knew Percilla was a Lakota Native American who had been adopted at the age of 18 by Travis and Katie Stoll. There were no files concerning her life before then, but Piper figured that people probably hadn't been too bothered to keep track of the Native Americans.

Piper shuffled through a few more papers like adoption certificates and school records before dropping them all as she caught sight of something that wasn't right. It was a newspaper clipping with something horrible on the front.

"Oh my god. No, no, no," Piper gasped. Her eyes skimmed over it, looking at the dates and almost screaming at the headlines and the names. September Tenth, 1939.

That was today. But today hadn't happened yet in 1939. There was still time to change things.

* * *

**Am I the only one who thought this chapter was extremely quick to write? Maybe it's just because I'm so excited that I finally have the rest of this book planned out and I made a timeline to plot everything out...the downside is that I discovered that there will be 18 chapters with means that this is chapter 11 and it's close to being done!**

**Good and bad, but I'm excited for my next two stories. In fact, I've already started on The Heart Divided...**

**Thank you for the abundance of reviews, follows, and favorites last chapter! My email almost had a heart attack, I'm pretty sure. **


	12. The Unchanged Hourglass

**Little recap for you since I haven't updated for a while: Remember that Piper just got done reading Perry's life files and found something bad. . .but what?**

* * *

**September 1939**

"I told you we should've skipped today," Leo muttered, slouching in the wooden seat. He was absentmindedly drawing three-dimensional machines on the corners of his paper.

Jason sighed and stared at the clock above the chalkboard that seemed to tick slower with every second Jason looked at it. He and Leo were in Coach Hedge's Physical Education class, otherwise known as Pure Torture. Hedge was a short, burly little man who could just about kill anyone with the large baseball bat he proudly donned and waved threateningly in everyone's faces. His class consisted of first sitting in a classroom and going over every health subject possible and adding in how easily the entire earth population could die from all the diseases. The second half was every grueling and muscle-aching workout possible to be done with the full most effort.

Jason didn't know if he wanted this part of the class to be over or not. Leo, never being one for working out and getting muscle tone, usually skipped the entire part of the morning and spent it in the mechanics workshop. Sometimes, Jason didn't see his friend the whole day due to the immense time Leo liked to spend there.

However, Jason rarely ever made his way down to the workshop or anywhere else, in that case, in exchange for Coach Hedge's intense morning class. Most of the time, Jason stayed here all morning, ate lunch, and hardly ever had enough energy to do anything more exciting. After lunch time, Jason usually found himself attending a math or science class just for the fun of it.

"Jeez, Leo. You act like it's a Monday or something," Jason mumbled back as soon as the short, burly coach turned back to the chalkboard to add something to his notes on the proper way to run using the correct form.

Leo snorted and dropped the pencil on the wooden table top. "Grace, you're such a twit, I swear! Whoop-de-do, it's Tuesday alright. And that makes it better than Monday how? If Monday didn't exist then we'd all hate Tuesday, so it really ain't making much of a difference anyhow." Leo pointed out. "And I really have more

better things to be doing than gettin' all sore from Hedge's torture treatment for the day."

"You're welcome to leave. Otherwise you'll just be annoying," Jason bitterly responded. As if he wanted to be here at the present moment too. Not when Perry...

_"Jason, I'm leaving tomorrow," Perry said, leaning up against the railing on her porch. Her brown, carelessly braided hair was falling down the sides of her face, the moon outside illuminating her multicolored eyes. _

_ It took a moment for Jason to process her words. "What? I thought you weren't leaving until the end of this month! Perry, why so soon?" he asked in a rush. He was stunned by the sudden changed of things. It couldn't be real, could it?_

_ Perry lightly touched Jason's hand, her kaleidoscopic eyes shining with sadness. "I got an offer at a clothing factory, Jason. And it pays very well and I couldn't pass it up. You know how hard it is for a woman to get a good job," she calmly explained. _

_ "Perry, you don't _have _to get a job! You could stay here and have all you want without working a single day in your life!" Jason pleaded, tightly gripping her delicate hands. So much had changed for him in a single day. He'd already lost Piper today without wanting to. He couldn't let them take Perry too. _

_ She harshly pulled away. "Isn't that what all you men want? You don't want women to get jobs and have a place in the real world. You want us to go back to staying at home and watching over children! Not to add a single stress line to our _pretty little_ faces!" Perry said venomously. _

_ Jason backed up, not expecting the sudden outburst. But then Perry collapsed on the porch swing, her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, Jason. I'm just frustrated because...I really like you. And I'm disappointed that I have to leave so early. But it's only a two year contract. I just hope..."_

_ "What?" Jason asked, sitting close next to her on the swing and wrapping an arm around her waist. _

_ Perry smiled. "I just hope you'll wait for me."_

And that was the last he'd see of her for another two years unless he decided to travel to New York City, which even then his chances of finding her were slim. Jason had spent a devastating night with the thought of her not returning to school the next day.

But how could this happen? Did Jason just have the worst of luck with romance lately? He remembered how he used to joke and laugh with Leo about Leo's bad luck with girls, but now that didn't seem all that funny anymore. How could it be that Jason had ended up with two messed up relationships, one with a girl he wouldn't be seeing for another two years and one with a girl who didn't even live in the same time frame as him?

And another dilemma, if Piper did find a way to get to 1939 and Perry came back from her factory job, Jason would have to choose between the two. Jason had completely strong feelings for the both of them. It was just. . . they had so much in common. Perry and Piper had extremely similar personalities and they both cared about Jason a lot.

But when Jason thought about who he wanted more, the answer came almost immediately. He wanted the one that had the slimmer chance of ever coming to him. Maybe it was because he was interested in all the unknown that surrounded Piper. Maybe it was because Piper was the one who found his love letter and responded, not Percilla. Maybe it was because Piper was the first one to steal his heart, and he hadn't yet gotten it back enough to give a piece of it to Perry.

Whatever it was, Jason still liked Perry a lot. It made him sound like a man who had many sweethearts that he led on, but Jason couldn't help what he felt.

"Alright, cupcakes, listen up!" Hedge yelled out to the class, drawing back all the attention he'd lost during his lecture. The class came to order and met his gaze at the chalkboard. "I want you all to separate into three groups! The first group will to push ups for the starting fifteen minutes, the second will run, and the third will do crunches. Got that?"

The class nodded simultaneously. "Yes, sir!"

Leo grumbled and slunk down in his seat. "I'm high tailing it out of here as soon as we all get up. You in?"

Coach yelled for everyone to get their lazy fannies out and get to work, which all the boys didn't argue and just did what he said to avoid more push ups. Jason got beside Leo in line, scrolling through the options in his head. Quite frankly, he really didn't feel like this part of Hedge's class due to the lack of energy from not getting a good rest last night. But if he was caught cutting class, Thalia would have his hide just because she never got to finish school herself and thought it was a good opportunity for Jason.

The boys began to file out of class and Leo slid to the left of the door unnoticed. Leo threw him a look that said something along the lines of "Life or death?" and Jason made a split second decision. He pushed by just as another boy, Sammy, who was Leo's cousin, tried to take the same route. They both tossed each other looks so that they wouldn't get caught and joined Leo on the left side of the door.

"Jesus, Grace, didn't think you were coming to the dark side for a moment," Leo joked as the three of them walked down the hall.

Sammy laughed, his identical lively brown eyes mirroring Leo's. Occasionally, Jason got a little freaked out by their similarities. "It seems perfect Mr. Jason Grace isn't used to not following the rules. Man, you need to get out more," Sammy agreed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jason smoothly lied, looking behind to see if anyone saw the three of them sneak out of the line. Apparently, no one had and the group of boys was already headed out to the field to begin the morning torture session.

"Neither does Sammy, he usually doesn't make it far enough into the day without getttin' the dunce cap to skip Hedge's class!" Leo teased, pulling open the back door that led to the mechanic shop outside.

Sammy smirked and followed Leo out. "Now, I don't reckon _you_ know what you're talking about, Leo. I'm an angel sent from the Lord above," he argued.

Jason pushed between the two of them as the door shut behind them, his eyes squinting from the intense morning sun shining on New Rome. "Ladies, we don't want to call attention to ourselves, do we?"

Leo smoothed his hair back and stuck his tongue out at Jason. "If I'm a lady, I'm a pretty darn good looking one, ain't that right, Sammy, darling?" he said, inter looping his arm with Sammy's.

"Can't argue with that. Ya know, 'cause we look alike," Sammy said with a laugh, picking up a skip as the two of them left for the shop. Leo nearly made the both of them fall over as his feet got wrapped up in a cord.

Jason chuckled to himself and shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand. He looked over to the field where the rest of his class was intensely working. Jason wondered if Hedge noticed his absence yet or if he was too wrapped up in yelling at the 'cupcakes'.

He stepped over the dry grass clumps and pondered over what to do next as he walked off of the school property. It would be a really bad idea to go home because Thalia was almost guaranteed to be there and she would demand the reason behind Jason's being home early.

Jason stopped at a park bench near the Gardens of Bacchus, New Rome's most acclaimed park. The sweet smell of the flowers drifted in the morning breeze, calming Jason's senses. He took in a deep breath, fully appreciating how lucky he really was, even if his sour thoughts sometimes interfered.

He and Thalia had gotten out of the Depression alive and well. They had a home to live in and Thalia had a job. He got fed every meal to his fullest. He had nice clothes. And Jason got to go to school, and opportunity not very many kids in the Midwest got to embrace. Jason had not one, but two girls who loved him, and he complained about the hard times of it.

Jason had a good life ahead of him, and all he'd done all morning was mope around about Perry's leaving and how Piper would probably never come to 1939. He remembered when he'd been extremely optimistic as a child before the Depression hit his family. Everything always had a solution and could be fixed, no doubts about it.

His mind drifted back to a time when he and Thalia were out playing by the shed and Thalia accidentally lost one of their father's prized marbles he'd had since he was a child himself. Thalia had gone frantic looking through the dirt with Jason at her side until giving up after a few moments of nothing. No matter what Jason said, Thalia believed the marble was gone for good and they'd best be telling Father about what had happened.

They'd done so, and their father had been very upset that he couldn't trust the two of them with a mere marble. But Jason had been convinced in the back of his mind that it was not lost. And so the next day, Jason searched with a calm mind and found the marble proudly sitting against the shed wall, apparently pushed aside when he and Thalia had been thrashing the dirt around.

But that had been before the Depression. Before their father disappeared in a dust storm coming home from New Rome. Before they were left with no income in the Grace house so their mother was forced to sell off as much as she could with little market. Before Mother came back from the bare fields with blisters on her hands from attempted plowing of nothing. Before she herself died of a lung condition due to the dust, leaving Thalia and Jason to fend for themselves.

Jason was so lucky to not have to endure those times anymore and sometimes he had to think back on it and regain his childhood optimistic attitude. Because now he had proof that it could be done. People could get out of the horrid Depression.

He smiled to himself and reached into his pocket to feel the folded paper he'd picked out of the desk drawer this morning. Even if he didn't have writing utensils and paper to respond at the moment, there was no better time than the present to read Piper's letter in peace.

His fingers folded the smooth, white paper out and pulled it out of the envelope. He'd gotten used to the strange materials of paper and pen she used by now, so he usually just ignored it.

This time, the letter was written in dark blue ink in a hurried handwriting which was not like Piper's usual neat and rounded writing. He knew it was hers, however, just by the way she looped the 'J' in his name.

_Jason, I dearly hope you receive this in time. If you don't, I fear of hard times for you and I both. Disregard what I said when we met that one night. We have to change the future and only you can do it. _

_ Right now, and I mean right now, Jason, I need you to stop Perry from getting on that train. Do not do anything else. Get her and anyone else you can convince off that train immediately. _

_ I know you don't understand why and I guess I'll have to tell you to make things clear. _ _Jason, that train is headed for a faulty bridge track that had been tampered with by something unknown to my day. If you don't stop Perry from getting on that train, she'll fall with the train as well. _

_ Jason, every single passenger, the conductor included, died on that train wreck. _

_ Please Hurry,_

_Piper_

Jason read the letter in shock. He felt frozen on the wooden bench, his legs frozen to the path walk. The words flowed together as Jason tried to reread and make sure he had read every word correctly. It couldn't be right. It couldn't be true.

Piper must have read something wrong, right? Percilla couldn't- no, it wouldn't make sense. Perry couldn't just die today. That article must be wrong. . .train wreck? The train rail. . .

Oh, god. Perry left on the train not too long ago. And if the schedule was running late, there was only one way to make things change so that other things wouldn't happen. And if nothing did happen anyway, then Jason would just tell Piper that she must have read something wrong or had an incorrect file.

That had to be it. Piper, with her almost always accurate information and help, had made a mistake.

His feet felt detached from his body as he forced himself up from the once peaceful bench. The whole world felt like it was spinning around him in a whirlpool, almost similar to the feeling Jason had experience when he and Piper had met.

Tunnel vision had overtaken him as he ran down the streets of New Rome. Jason didn't care if Thalia saw him or what the townspeople might be thinking. His well trained body thanks to Coach Hedge knew what to do regardless of the things around.

So much for cutting class to save a little energy. But hopefully it would be worth it. Jason could save Perry's life.

The train station was straight ahead, its wooden structure with a sloped and brown shingled roof absorbing the harsh sunlight. The benches arranged in front of the door were empty and the station was silent. No train was in sight, nor was Percilla.

Jason held down his panic and maintained a calm attitude. He had no proof, after all, that something had happened yet. He had no reason to panic.

He took a deep breath and steadily walked up the steps and to the ticket window. Inside, the coordinator was sitting at the window, reading a book and looking quite bored.

"Sir?" Jason asked, tapping the glass to gain the attendant's attention.

He looked up from his book and slid the window open. "The train's already left, sonny. Been gone a good half hour by now," the man responded automatically, pushing his glasses back up on his nose.

Jason swallowed and put his hand in between the two sides of the glass to keep the attendant from closing it. "Have you, um, heard any news on it? Like, if it's stopped or crashed or something?"

The man gave him a suspicious look and Jason mentally slapped himself. Now he sounded like he tampered with the train! How stupid was he? "Are you trying to tell me something, mister?"

"N-no!" Jason stumbled, feeling more and more flustered as this conversation prolonged. "I-I'm just worried about someone on there. I want to make sure she's alright," Jason covered, though it wasn't technically a lie at all. He was worried about Perry, and he did want to know if she was alright.

"Oh, I see," the man said, his expression completely changing. "You've got a sweetheart, don't ya? You just run along, now. There's nothing to worry about, I've not got any news that wasn't good, boy," the attendant dismissed, pushing Jason's hand aside and closing the door.

Jason tried to replace his hand, but the glass window was already shut. "Sir! Please! Check again!" Jason begged, but the man paid no attention. Instead, he reopened his book and turned the radio dial up, completely ignoring Jason's pleas.

After a few more minutes of trying to annoy the poor man, Jason was forced to give up. He sat on one of the benches for a while, waiting for the news that Piper had called out would come, but the heat of the sun eventually became too unbearable, even with the awnings above.

He trudged his lead feet off the station and back into the main part of town. Like before, Jason gave no second looks to the people walking about. He didn't care what they were thinking about his earlier actions and his actions now. He felt like a numb mannequin, waiting for news to come of a train wreck.

Part of him wanted to saddle up Tempest and ride after the train like the men of the Old West. The other half knew that though Tempest was a exceptionally fast horse, he could never catch up to the speed of the trains these days. The train's fate was out of his control now. As was Perry's.

Jason's doubt tried to take over, wanting to perceive this no news stage as good news. Maybe he had just overreacted. He'd just go home and write to Piper, telling her that her information was incorrect. Yes, that's what he'd do.

He stepped into the grocery store cautiously, reaching his hand up around the door to stop the bell from ringing, expecting Thalia to ream him about not being at school. But Jason didn't see her at the front counter and there were no customers. A stack of empty crates sat in the corner and Jason remembered that today was the day the store got its stock in. If he listened closely, he could almost hear Thalia talking to Gwen and Dakota about the problems across the seas.

Taking her absence to his advantage, Jason nimbly jumped up the stairs, avoiding the creaky spot on the fourth stair up. He took slow and steady strides across the upstairs home and towards his room. Jason unfolded Piper's letter as he pulled out his chair from the desk and smoothed it under a paperweight.

He pulled out his ink pen and his own sheet of paper and began his letter to Piper, explaining how she must have a false paper and how he had gone to the train station and even asked about the condition of the train. He told her that he was glad she was wrong, for once. Jason also bade her another good luck on her campaign for Homecoming Queen again because he sincerely hoped she'd win.

Jason sighed and examined his finished letter, almost feeling relief from it. Somehow, it made it final that everything would be okay.

He folded it up, vaguely wondering how much time had passed since he'd gotten home, and addressed it to the most beautiful woman in his life along with Percilla, though he didn't say the Percilla part.

Jason was just about to put the letter in when he heard a clamoring up the staircase, Leo yelling his name. "Jason! Are you here? Oh my god, where are you?" he yelled, stumbling as he reached the top.

Jason stood up so fast from the chair that it clattered to the ground, his heart braced for what he didn't want to hear and know. "Leo! What's happened? What do you want?" Jason asked, hoping to any dear god that would listen that it wouldn't be the predicted news.

Leo's face held nothing but remorse, and Leo had never been one to give the bad news without a joke or two. He faltered as he spoke what had come true, what Piper had warned him about this whole time.

"T-the train. . .dysfunction . . .Jason! Perry m-might not. . ."

At that moment, everything fell from Jason's life. Without Piper's forewarning, Jason might not have understood what Leo's strangled words meant, but Jason did fore certain because of it. He cursed himself for what he could have done. Jason had the opportunity to stop this from happening, but he hadn't seized it in the right way.

Maybe he should've read Piper's letter first thing this morning. Maybe he should've begged harder for Perry to stay, even if she stayed mad at him for a while. Anything but _this_.

Percilla Falling Dove had fallen and taken a part of Jason with her.

* * *

**Oh, gosh, guys. It's been a while, I know. And I could spend an entire paragraph explaining, but if you're really that interested in my life you can PM me if you don't already, it doesn't bother me (:**

**Thank you for your dedicated support to this story! I've been working extremely hard on it and it really helps to know that you guys appreciate it! I seriously owe this story to each and every one of you dears! Love you!**


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